NOTES ON A ROCK GARDEN. 



4^7 



viz. pygmaca, procumbens, pumila, and conica ; the little Junipers with 

 their beautiful, soft, evergreen foliage —Juniper us Sabina prostrata for a 

 sloping bank,/. Sabina procumbcns, J. S. tamarisci folia, J. Hudsoniana, 

 and J. communis comprcssa (or /. hibernica, as it is sometimes called), a 

 beautiful little compact shrub, which takes many years to grow 18 

 inches high, and worth a place on every rockery. Genista sagittalis is a 

 native of South Europe, with stems curiously flattened in the semblance 

 of the wings of an arrow (hence its specific name), and pretty heads 

 of yellow gorse-like flowers. It looks best on a sloping bank, and if 

 cut back early in the spring the plant may be kept to a height of 6 to 9 

 inches. Genista tinctoria and G. tinctoria plena form low round bushes 

 with rich green broom-like growth, crowded with spikes of golden- 

 yellow blossom. They grow well on dry banks. Genista tinctoria 

 humifusa, a trailing shrubby species, is useful for growing over stones. 

 Cytisus kewensis, a pretty hybrid, slightly prostrate, looks well with its 

 pale yellow flowers hanging over the stones, and so also does C. sericeus. 

 C. purpureas, from the Alps, with purple flowers, differs from the others 

 of the family in that it sends up from underground the new growth on 

 which it flowers the following season ; hence it is necessary each year 

 to cut back some of the old flowering wood to a strong new growth. 

 Prunus nana, the dwarf Almond, a native of Southern Russia, bears 

 its lively rose-coloured flowers during March and April. Its leaves are 

 narrow, smooth, dark green, and glossy ; a charming shrub, thriving 

 well in a dry position, and if treated in the same way as Cytisus pur- 

 pureus giving a profusion of flowers. Rhododendron racemosum, from 

 China, is an evergreen and is charming in early spring, with lovely 

 little rosy flowers. It should be planted in a sheltered nook, as the 

 late frosts often destroy the flowers. It does best in peaty loam. R. 

 intricatum, also from China, is a very dwarf and slow-growing evergreen, 

 but bears a profusion of pale bluish-mauve flowers early in the spring, 

 and often flowers a second time in the autumn. Like R. racemosum, 

 it is occasionally spoilt by the late frosts. Both of these plants are 

 beautiful shrubs and ought to be on every rockery. Berberis Wilsonae, 

 a new species from China, is of dwarf bushy habit, with golden-yellow 

 flowers ; the stems, being much branched, form an impenetrable 

 mass and the spines, nearly an inch long, are a splendid protection for 

 the mass of orange-red berries in autumn. By thinning out the old 

 wood after the berries have fallen the beauty of the shrub is enhanced, 

 since the plant then flowers and berries more freely. This plant is 

 seen to best advantage if placed between two corner-stones, so that its 

 branches overhang. 



Daphne Cneorum and D. Cneorum major, natives of South Europe 

 are of all Daphnes the most worth growing on the rock garden. 

 Planted in good, deep, fibrous, peaty loam, among rock, where the roots 

 may be cool and the branches partly shaded from midday sun, they 

 form low evergreen cushions, bearing on the tips of the branches in 

 May, and sometimes again in September, clusters of pink flowers of 

 exquisite fragrance. No pains should be spared in trying to get these 



