106 



THE GARDENERS' MAGAZINE, 



March 9, 1912. 



AMONG THE ALPINE 



FLOWERS. 



*'Tho sap will ?5urely quicken soon or late, 

 The tardiest bird will twitter to a mate; 

 So spring must dawn again with warmth 



and bloom." 



Christina G. Rossetti. 



Spring always seems to oome too tardily 

 for the lover of flowers who is eagerly 

 watching for the uprising of his favourites 

 from that black earth or between the stones 

 of his rock garden. He is sure of their 

 appearing; he looks for their coming as 

 the lover watches for his dear one ; and he 

 longs for the spearing shoot^ the swelling 

 bud, and the opening blossom. Spring 

 cannot well be said to be here, though 

 March will have been ushered in ere these 

 notes can appear. There is a dalliance and 

 a reluctance of the flowers, as if they knew 

 too well that fate has yet some trials for 

 their tender leaves and fragile petals. 



Yet many of them are here, and many 

 more are pressing forward, less timorous 

 than others, and we see their advance from 

 ilay to day with ardent satisfaction. They 

 are all around. Bidbous plants are in the 

 majority, but others are in the field seek- 

 ing our favour — a favour we cannot deny to 

 such lovelv things. 



Snowdrops. 



In the rock garden, the border, or amid 

 the grass, ai*e the snowdrops, the virgin 

 flowers of the winter, which^ happily^ dwell 

 with us until tlie sharp winds of March 

 bring tbe dalfodils to bear them c(mipany 

 ere thev dcnai't foi' the vear. 



« I * 



1 he ohl h)\'er of tlu' snowdrop would 

 luudiy recogn >;e his fa^■ouI•ite as it is now 

 present in our garden^s. The art of man 

 has wedded different races of the galan- 

 thus, and has provided us flowers of the 



^ 



utmost beauty, and far more opulent in 

 their loveliness than the little Galanthus 

 nivalis of the past time. Yet there is 

 nothing more beautiful than thousands of 

 the common snowdrop spread in sheets 

 among the grass, scattered about the rock 

 garden, or in clumps of rare beauty in 

 many ]>arts of the pleasaunce. Here are 

 many species and still more hybrids, from 

 the quaint (Jalanthus Scharloki, with its 

 divided spathe and its spot of green on 

 <vich f)Uter segment^ to the nuissive G. Im- 

 perati Atkinsi, one of the most imj>erial 

 of all the snowdrops. 



Then there are hybrids of Galanthus 

 pliratiis. of noble beauty and with truly 



I. « V 



fasc nating eardrops of white and emerald 

 green. The many know not the loveliness 

 of these new snowdrops, but soon shall come 

 the time when, like the daffodil, they shall 

 find their way into many gardens^ and be 

 sought after like those narcissi which " take 

 the winds of March with beauty.'' Those 

 of us who are privileged to own these patri- 

 cian flowers, look thankfully upon their 

 transcendent loveliness. 



Crocus tomassinianus. 



Gladly do we see among our flowers of 

 the early days the dainty Crocus tomassi- 

 nianus, a charming little flower, not bold 

 enough, perhaps, to attract the admiration 

 of those who can see no beauty in crocuses 

 savr in the glowing massive cups of the 

 Dutch varieties. These may affect to 

 despite the exf(uisite soft-coloured dainti- 

 ness of Tomassini's crocus, but we who love 

 «Mir Howers for other things than niere size 

 and l egidarity of contour are in the seventh 

 heaven of delight as we study the beauties 

 of these crocus gems. We hai^e no little 



spring crocus more beautiftd than this; ness. 



and we have none more reliable. It grows 

 readily in a sunny spot ; it flo\yers freely, 

 giving us an abundance of its lilac or 

 purple flowers ; it seeds well, and thus in- 

 creases with more rapidity than do some 

 of the other species. There are now seve- 

 ral shades of purple or of lilac to be pro- 

 cured among the varieties of this gem, and 

 all are very pretty. A little group with 

 the soft exterior colouring displayed when 

 the flowers are closed gives us pleasure — a 

 pleasure vastly heightened when the little 

 flowers open to the sun of the months of 

 February and March. 



Adonis amurensis. 



The introducer of a flower such as the 

 Amoor adonis deserves a wreath of fame, 

 so great has been the boon he has bestowed 

 upon those of us who yearn for the 

 earliest flowers. And Adonis amurensis, 

 which first bloomed in February, is one we 

 may well vis t from time to time to see if 

 it has begun to open its golden flowers. 

 It reminds one^ as might be anticipated, of 

 its ally Adonis vernalis, the spring adonis, 

 but it comes so much earlier and is so at- 

 tractive in itself, with its fine golden flowers 

 borne above its gracefully-cut leaves, that 

 it is one of the plants we can never praise 

 too much. Our enemies the slugs have 

 an affection of an inordinate kind for this 

 Amoor adonis as well as we ; but their 

 desire assumes a different form, the gas- 

 tropods seeking to enjoy the pleasures of 

 appetite, while we, let us hope, are 

 govei'ued by higher tastes than they. In 

 a dryish soil Adonis amurensis does well 

 here, though not in a place Avhere it can 

 ever suffer from drought. 



Scilla bifolia. 



The earliest flowers on the forerunnejs 

 of the different forms of Scilla bifolia are 

 in full blow, and other varieties are loth 

 to lag behind. Looking through the gar- 

 den to-day I renewed my pleasure at the 

 sight of a little deep-coloured form sent 

 to me from Asia Minor^ and which is the 

 first of all, and rejoiced to see another one 

 — grandiflora — in bloom^ with others, such 

 as S. bifolia ruberrima, fast showing colour. 

 Too few know the usefulness of Scilla 

 bifolia in the rock garden, and it ought to 

 be more highly appreciated than it is. I 

 have a goodly number of varieties hero, but 

 none give more pleasure than these very 

 early ones, harbingers of others to come, 

 with blue, pink, flesli-coloured, or white 

 flowers. They are so easily grown that 

 they need not be absent from any garden ; 

 while their value is all the greater because 

 they come as the vanguard of the varieties 

 of the Siberian squill, Scilla sibirica, and 

 others of the race. 



Other Flowers. 



Here are a few early narcissi, gladly 

 opening to hail the month of March, though 

 minimus has forestalled the others of the 

 race, and has given its dainty flowers for 

 some time ; a few of the Glories of the Snow 

 have also opened their blooms of blue in the 

 case of Chionodoxa sardensis, and a single 

 early plant of C. Luciliee' has almost 

 rivalled in earliness its sister Glory. There 

 are sprays of Arabises, dwarf hyacinths, 

 Mezereons, a saxifrage or two, with various 

 other early gems of the rock garden, de- 

 lightftd pioneers of the vast army of the 



blossoms of tbe year, sucli as ]>rimroses, 

 X'ioh'ts, acoTiitcN, and earlv nubret:as. 



Truly the opening moiiths, trying though 

 they are to us ])oor mortals, bring in their 

 train real joys an<l visions of floral loveli- 



S. Arxott. 



ROCK GARDEN NOTES. 



The continuously wet weather experj. 

 enced during the past season has been tk 

 cause of many losses in this department 

 Although the inhabitants of the rock gai- 

 den are quite hardy whe>re extreme dd 

 is concerned, an any succumb to excessive 

 moisture, and some of our choice subjects 

 will be found to he either dead or in* 

 state of collapse. It is a difficult matttr 

 to winter many of the natives of the high 

 mountainous regions, owing to the prevail- 

 ing dampness of our winter climate. Dur- 

 ing a wairm autumn, when the atmosphere 

 is excessively humid, the plants are foioed 

 into strong sappy growth, which is quite 

 unfit to stand severe weather. Of coursf, 

 many choice subjects are protected by over- 

 head coverings, yet it is impossible to shel- 

 ter all from the rains, and consequently 

 many arc lost. 



The idea — and it is a very prevalent one 

 — that when once a rock garden is planted 

 it should go on for ever is absolutely 

 wrong, as the plants cannot always etand 

 our climate. One of the most important 

 paints regarding the maintenance of a rocK 

 garden is to have a good stock of reserve 

 plants in readiness to fill up vacancies in 

 the spring. In damp, low-lying districts tk 

 losses during the winter are much heavier 

 than in dry one^, yet at the same tiBie 

 it is quite essential' that there should 

 a reserve supply connected with every r(KS 

 garden. 



Generally 

 ^lai'ch 



IS a 



speaking, the early half «f 

 most suitable time for filhs? 

 U]) all gaps, and hy this time it is easily 

 seen wliich plants are going to survive 

 When replanting, it is advisable to remove 

 the old soil and replace it with fresh, not 

 only taking off the top but going to a go^ 

 <lt^pth, beairing in mind the fact that tlit 

 majority of rock garden plants arc de^; 

 rooting. Each subject must be afforded scj 

 to meet its requirements, and to accomptisfl 

 this a thorou-gli knowledge of the variow^ 



s is necessary. The androsaces diarr 

 th uses , ^thionemas , a lyssums, edaian- 

 thuses, phyteumas, and many of the saxi- 

 frages that delight in soil of a calcareo'^ 



nature, should he afforded plenty of \^ 



ubble. The 



there are^the peat-loving subjects, whif 

 include the daphnes, Eomecon chionantj 

 Epigsea repens, Linnsea horealis,someot _ 

 primulas, ghortias and many others, ■ 

 should be afforded a suitable irooti^: 



plant? 



stone chippings or old mortar ru 



be afforded a su 



medium to ensuie success. i; 



i a rich sod shoul; 



be avoided/for, although a strong groj 

 is produced hv its use, collapse *>"^^"^^^ 

 lows. Firm pl'antiug is of great inipo- " 



In the majority of cases a 



ortaD*^- 



and when fillinL^ up the crevices hetvveen 



- - A will have to ^ 



pt)Mtu)ns. The work shou 



rocks, hammer and chisei vmh ^'^'[^ 

 'brought into use to fix the plants nr^^^ 

 in their pt)Mtions. The work 

 accomplish- d < arcfully and thorougniy^ 

 the future welfare of the plants depe 



Tilt' 



great deal on how they are P"^ .J"' j.^?^ 

 roots must be laid out, and the soJi 

 in amongst them, so that they ^^ij 

 growdng right away. When a P 

 turned out of its pot and the I'oots a^ ^ 

 a tight ball it is of great advantag,^ 

 loosen them and spread them out 

 of pushing the ball in undistuHbed. 



If dry weather prevails during the ra- 

 tions, the plants should be well ^^^.^ 

 after they are in tluur places. 3. 

 will be fi-equently require<l untU t 

 OfrdabHshed. J^- 



Gnaton Gardens. 



K. H. .IP.akin..-. It k< ttili of skilU^l ^"^ ,^|i,},.r 

 ran obtainM bv p<'>t fr.-m our 



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