42 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



worts (Pinguicula), and if one end of the bed is gradually sloped, so that 

 the soil becomes merely damp and finally firm, the grass of Parnassus 

 (Parnassia p>alustris) and Dryas octopetala, two exceedingly interesting 

 plants, can be established, whilst on the margin can also be grown Linnaea 

 and the bog pimpernel (Anagallis tenella), two lovely little wildings that 

 for many years I have considered worth growing in shallow pans. 



From such a bed of floral gems it is an easy transition to small 

 British rock plants. This, I think, is wonderfully well exemplified in 

 the rock garden at Kew, where the dwarf bog plants are accommodated 

 at the base of the shelving rock. With British rock plants this arrange- 

 ment would in any garden be an attractive and instructive feature. 

 Space will not permit me to do more than enumerate a few of those 

 plants that may be so employed : Poly gala vulgaris, with its varieties, 

 Dianthus deltoides and D. caesius, Gentiana verna, Primula farinosa 

 Sa.vifraga oppositifolia, Sibthorpia europaea, thrift (Statice Armeria), 

 Ghrysosplenium oppositifolia in a shady nook, and in a special part 

 prepared with calcareous soil, Anemone Pulsatilla, Chlora perfoliata, 

 Gentiana campestris, Erythraea Centaurium, and Campanula glomerata 

 — not forgetting here a clump of our pretty little harebell, C. rotundifolia, 

 which will grow almost anywhere, even on an old wall. 



Our British Sedums, too, should be well represented in such a position. 

 Such species as Sedum dasyphyllum, S. anglicum, S. acre, S. reflexum, 

 and S. rupestre make, when given a suitable position, bright masses 

 of typical rock plants. I must not omit Centranthus ruber in this 

 section ; few British plants are so characteristic as this one of rock flora, 

 and, as everyone knows, it is equally at home in the herbaceous border 

 or perched up on some high dry wall or rock, where, in company with 

 wallflowers, snapdragons, and other wall-loving plants, it gives such a 

 vivid colouring to old ruins and rocks. 



One more plant let me add as worthy of either the alpine or rock- 

 garden, the ' alpine lady's mantle ' (Alcliemilla alpina) ; the flowers are 

 not vivid, or even curious, but the exquisitely cut leaves, with the 

 under surface of sheeny satin, together with the greenish tuft of flowers, 

 entitles it to a place in any garden where British plants are appreciated. 



The fascination of our wild orchid flowers is due, not only to the 

 quaint and unusual outlines and the strange resemblances to other forms 

 of life, but to the delicate range of colouring and, in some instances, 

 to the exquisite scent. Indeed, there is a beauty about these little 

 terrestrial species of orchids, and a fertility of contrivances for 

 pollination, that endears them to all plant lovers ; and if they have not 

 the gorgeous colouring of their tropical congeners, they have at least 

 that charm that calls fortb some special effort to see them growing in 

 the garden. 



One rarely sees British orchids doing well in the garden, unless as at 

 Kew, Glasnevin, and a few private gardens, where some special care has 

 been bestowed on their culture. 



The reason is that with few exceptions they are not amenable to 

 ordinary garden culture ; anything like disturbance of roots or tubers is 

 fatal to their well-being, and the restlessness of the ordinary herbaceous 

 border with its everlasting topdressing, hoeing, tying up, &C, is exactly 



