SPRING FLOWER GARDENING. 



285 



summer. It was once suggested to me that it might be possible 

 to have a display, part flowers, part shrubs, at each season of 

 the year, and, in fact, this has really been accomplished ; our 

 flower-beds are never bare or empty, and herbaceous borders and 

 shrubberies never without bloom. Although I use and value 

 both Hyacinths and Tulips, they are subsidiary and not the 

 essential features of the garden. I use chiefly the single bedding 

 Hyacinths, and the early Van Thol Tulips. In the general garden 

 arrangements I cannot claim any great merit of originality ; if 

 anything can be said in commendation of the Belvoir Gardens 

 it is that, by the use of many simple and well-known flowers, 

 the flower-gardens have been made attractive and pleasing to 

 the many visitors who, by the kindness of the noble Duke, have 

 at all times and seasons the privilege of seeing them, and I have 

 great pleasure in saying that the trust thus exhibited is rarely 

 abused. 



Rockeries and Rock Plants. 



There are but few mountain ranges in the world that have not 

 given us plants of more or less interest. Many tell us of the 

 wide distribution of certain families, and suggest speculation and 

 furnish clues to the geologist. Introduced to our gardens with 

 the story of their mountain homes, it is no wonder that we 

 resort to rockwork in the endeavour to imitate the natural 

 circumstances that belong to the plants. 



To carry on the recital of the narrative relating to our spring 

 flowers, my task would be but imperfectly fulfilled if I failed to 

 glance over our rocky banks, and to record the names of the 

 plants which have happily established themselves on its recesses 

 and declivities. It is hardly necessary to say that rockwork 

 should be constructed chiefly with the view to give advantages 

 to rock-loving plants which level ground fails to afford, and which 

 are so much required to exhibit the best qualities of the plants 

 in growth and bloom. It is always cool and moist under a block 

 of stone, and one simple proceeding is to sink masses of rock 

 slightly into the ground so as to form pockets to hold up soil. 

 Other pieces may be so laid as to form ledges over which the 

 trailing plants may freely ramble. Although Gentiana acaulis, 

 G. sejptemfida, and G. asclejnadea can be grown in our her- 

 baceous borders, they belong to the rockery, and are never out 



