474 



THE 



GARDENERS' MAGAZINE. 



j0LY *3, 1898. 



Some Rock Plants Flowering in June. 



If asked what has been my most beautiful rock plant this season, I 

 should reply without hesitation iEthionema grandiflorum (Boissier). 

 This year I had ten or twelve large plants, a foot and a half high and 



sanguineum, but for dwarf growth and free flower.™ 



its flowers are pale pink, and the height not more thJ SU 1 perior to '* I 

 inches. inan th ree or four 



Two sedums in June deserve especial commendat' 



and not running 1 at 'the ^. amtsc ^ 1 !* 



ith 

 seed 



It a native of North-west Canada, and has noM^rTf ° n dwarf sta1 ^ 

 but will take kindly to any spot assigne d to it ^rh^f 

 obstructive or untidy. The many varieties of Veronica teurrinm ng 

 in flower, including V prostrata, often treated as a species, zndCZZ 

 nurseries as V. rupestns This is common, and apt to be weedy b ut ? 

 pure white variety of it which I found ten years ago near Gavomie in 

 Pyrenees is rare and choice It is, however, far more shy in hi e 2wtJ 



than its blue type though the flowering is very abundant The bfsh^r 

 upright forms of V. teucrium, from nine inches to two feet S » 



This year I had ten or twelve large - ^ - y'5" conspicuous orange-coloured flowers, andcontin «* 8 6 roots ' 



two feet across, presenting a surface of flowers, of a most vivid and is ripe . and s spath ula3folium, with very clos^ I 0rn . amen ^ till ^ 

 clear pink, ornamenting different parts of my many stone heaps during rosettes and large bunches of very bright yellow fWri^ j llvc !r y « re X 



June. The plant belongs to the order Crucifene, and is a shrub in the t. . ^ m±+% ^ fw-i 1 ™ nowers °* dwarf 



same sense as a wallflower is a shrub, the stem and twigs increasing in 

 hardness and in the number of their shoots until, at about three years 

 old, the circulation of sap seems to become difficult, and the plant 

 succumbs to winter, or dies off after flowering. Those I am now cele- 

 brating, thanks to last mild winter, are mostly in their fourth year, but I 

 do not expect any to survive till another spring. I find in the Kew 

 authorities Persia given as the native country, but E. Boissier, whose 

 botanical researches include Persia, mentions only one place where it 

 occurs, and that is in the centre of the Caucasus, on one of the lower 

 slopes of Mount Elbruz. I do not find its cultivation easy, though it 

 may be raised from cuttings, and in favourable seasons ripens a good 

 deal of fertile seed. But when the cuttings are struck and the seed 

 raised, and the plants nursed in a frame to flowering size, they are not 

 always easy to establish in their flowering place. Under an overhanging 

 stone on the rockery side, facing south, they are most likely to succeed, 

 and no pains are thrown away which result in keeping up a stock. Some 

 of the plants die after flowering once, and few survive a second flowering, 

 so the display this spring has been exceptional. 



Another success in this garden is Lithospermum Gastoni, discovered 

 fifty years ago on the High Pyrenees, near Eaux Bonnes, by the botanist 

 whose name it bears. It is closely allied to the native L. purpureo- 

 co ruleum, but is less than half the height, being only six inches, and has 

 larger flowers, and does not spread like that species does by turning over 

 the stem to the ground, and rooting from the terminal tuft. In fact, it 

 increases very slowly ; plants which have been growing healthily in the 

 same spot for ten years are not making more than ten close-growing 

 flowering-stalks. Hence, though very hardy and easy to cultivate 

 amongst stones in strong soil, it remains a scarce plant. The next 

 plant I am going to praise is common enough, growing on nearly 

 all chalk or limestone downs from the Isle of Wight to Llandudno, in- 

 cluding Epsom Racecourse ; and yet few plants make a better show all 

 through June and later on a heap of rock. It is Hippocrepis comosa, 

 the Horseshoe Vetch. It must be planted where it can have a good 

 breadth to spread on, for though as a wild plant it is generally strictly 

 herbaceous, in cultivation it behaves like a trailing shrub, and in two 

 years will cover a square yard. The flowers resemble in colour and 

 appearance those of the common bird's-foot trefoil, a plant which 

 becomes coarse and difficult to eradicate if cultivated. But the horse- 

 shoe vetch may be cut into any shape, and restrained in any direction, 

 as it roots very sparingly, if at all, as it runs. The flowering is very 

 dense and very fragrant, perfuming the air for some distance on sunny 



days. 



June is the best month for the rock pinks. The best one of them, 



however, flowers in May ; it is sold at the York nurseries by the name of 



Dianthus glacialis. I first had it by that name from the late Robert 



Parker, of Tooting nurseries, who grew it admirably. It is the dwarfest 



of its class, not more than two or three inches high, and the flowers are 



large and abundant. The original plant I bought nearly twenty years 



ago still lives where it was planted, and is not more than four inches across. 



It is certainly not D. glacialis, but the best Alpine botanist I have con- 

 sulted about it thinks it is a hybrid of D. alpinus. I have never known it 



ripen a seed, though I have searched for one every year. It may be 



increased very sparingly and with skill from cuttings. D. alpinus does . 



not succeed very well as a rock plant, and seems to prefer well-drained 



level ground, but D. neglectus is invaluable in its way. This, too, when 

 well-placed is long-lived. The first plant of it I ever had— probably fifteen 

 years old— still flourishes, being perhaps seven or eight inches square, 

 and has at least a hundred flowers on it every June, so crowded as to 

 overlap. It 1S on the summit of a rockery in deep, very well drained loam 

 mixed with stone. It seeds freely every year, and the seeds if sown as 

 soon as ripe come up at once and grow easily to a certain age ; but how- 

 ever closely I imitate the conditions under which the original plant grows, 

 not one seedling in ten survives the second winter. If they pass that, 

 there is a good chance of their reaching old age, but not one can boast 

 that it is better, or as good as its parent Other useful rock pinks are 

 u. Celsius, very tufty and vigorous ; D. sylvestris, with larger flowers, and 

 delighting to grow m a depression between two meeting stones ; and D. 

 viscKius, very deep crimson, but short-lived, and tending to pass, by 



crossing, into D. delto.des. These are tolerably well defined species, but _ Wfraa arc w „ 



Sl ■JuSSr;^'*? "ondescrip, hybrids are 5 to pass, leaves^ upon small side Tranches n<£r the apex of the stems six or mm 

 that seed edm f V freely ' and the "suits arc fertile, so upon each branch. The glaucous foliage is also ornamental ejen *Mj 

 wSL^L be depended upon, and every the plant is out of bloom. H ^eadi, whose habitat is unknoyro f has small 



amongst the purest and brightest of blue flowers for the' month dnVft!* 

 which they last. By growing a large number of seedlings in a sS 

 corner an advantage will be gained by the chance of selection for few 

 species afford greater variety of habit, and as the best plants knit ot 

 endless division, there ought to be no room for inferior forms Oxalis 

 enneaphylla, from the Falkland Islands, has proved hardy with me for 

 three winters, and is very distinct and pretty both in leaf and flower- 

 that is when the sun condescends to shine upon it— but it makes no 

 increase. It seems to do well at Kew, growing amongst the stones 

 where the cross walk cuts into the middle of the rock garden from the 

 east. It should be looked for in catalogues, but is at present scarce. I 

 first saw it in the rockery of Mr. George Paul at Broxbourne, where it 

 had survived a very severe winter. Of several varieties of Aster 

 alpinus, the most easily grown is that called var. superbus, which flowers 

 freely and grows vigorously, even on a flat border. The type is more 

 dwarf and perhaps better as a rock plant, but is very capricious, and 

 is difficult in many gardens to persuade to do well/especially where 

 slugs abound, which eat the eyes out of the flowering shoots during 

 winter. The white variety I have found unaccommodating. It wants 

 vigour, and most of the flowers come deformed, and it is seldom seen 

 in really good form. Lychnis Lagasoe, from the Spanish side of the 

 Pyrenees, is a choice little June rock plant. Being evergreen, its frail 

 stalks are little suited for the British alternations of snow and rain, 

 frost and thaw, but I find it does admirably on the side of a brick wall, 

 where snow cannot lodge against it. There it clings to the mortar without 

 any visible holdfast, and makes large tufts, covered for a month with 

 bright crimson flowers, growing mixed with erinus and similar dwarfs. 

 Edge Hall, Malfias. C. Wolley L)OD. 



HlBBERTIAS. 



Austral 



and are among the most easily cultivated plants. Many are of a climbing 

 habit, and form very pretty subjects for training under the rafters of a cool 

 greenhouse, or for pillars ; they have been grown outside upon a wall in 

 favoured localities, which shows their hardy nature. As they are ever- 

 green they are extremely useful where a roof covering is necessary all the 

 year round, and such species as the quick growing H. volubilis soon 

 fills up a large space if so required. Large plants are not particular as to 

 compost, provided it is not very heavy, so a large amount of coarse sand 

 and broken potsherds is conducive to good growth. With such species 

 as H. Readi, allied kinds, and young plants, a mixture of sandy peat and 



best 



mber 



The flowers are 



dentata, 



.lway: 



jjuipuaij Lwuur ucneatn ana iignt green auuvc. . -j- 



plays itself to the best advantage if its growths are allowed to depend 

 from the roof, while at the same time it presents quite a natural appear- 

 ance. H. volubilis is, perhaps, better adapted for pillars or walls on 



account of its more stiff habit of growth ; the foliage is deep green, ana 



- - ----- . mi. — branches * rp 



and 

 back 



growths, and, consequently, a more floriferous specimen. I or pot cultu 

 we have several species which form compact plants when well P 0 ™-. 

 H. perfoliate also an Australian species, we have a showy plant, g o» 

 a foot or more in height, and forming quite a desirable stage P lan VV 

 well grown. The flowers are produced in the axils of the penon. 



foTsS^sin^ 5 ^ tnor l C ° nfused tribe - few of which would pass muster 

 dvt nl ? 2 li\ n Tl h ^^ An e *^ite little columbine, Aquilegi 



So?£^'t£f£ tl T n l° S i ° thers ' Thongs to "the Mockery 

 flow"?' ^ w . ,th P^ty dwarf foliage and l7r, 



ia 

 It is 



pretty 



large blue 



my garden! beit^ r m omh7^ C l Um,3ine " hich comes ^m"°seVd in 



very dwarf, with leaves of \hini ^, •> f r0ck geran,umS ls G - argenteum, 



do.ng best'in the oriest ch inks /J^' l nd flowers r of P ink or ^e, 

 — J ' - 1 cll,nk> amongst the stones of the summit A 



-r^" vav.il uiam-u. me glaucous ionugc 10 — -- email 



the plant is out of bloom. H. Readi, whose habitat is unknown, ft ass m*» 

 linear foliage, and forms quite a compact plant. It is very fonterous, 

 the blooms are borne thickly upon the small twiggy branches, me a 

 appearing to nestle up to the foliage while in bud. 1 he brigm . 



species 

 at 



flowered 



!cies-H. Baudouini, a native of New Caledonia. This was ^ 

 Glasnevin by Dr. Moore, who received seeds from hl5 , D ^ n " th th e 



Sydney Botanic Garden It is described as a glabrous snruD, wu 



good ripening of seed Ts a"£ re IZ^Ih^ St< T S ° f th ! »r mit A , ^ Crowded toward s the apex, and with racemes of flowers ^a too 

 ^re ; the plants never admit of always made the most of length. This species, it is to V hoped, may become more 



^ome of the seedling „_ De,n S divided, but last for several years, our cardens. S> w « -LSL. h*en n cultivation and ngu 



less silveVlSes! n S o\hrt^rHS 'u t0 S\ cin « reum » a coarser kind^th 

 geranium is G. WSSS^if , ? d * Another very 'good 



ense ' held by some to be a variety of G. 



as decorative plants. 



Edinburgh. 



known and 

 R. L. HARROW. 



