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I GARDENERS' CHRONICLE I 
| OF AMERICA | 
Devoted to the Science of Floriculture and Horticulture 
I Vol. xx. 
MAY, 1916. 
No. 5. 
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Things and Thoughts of the Garden 
By The Onlooker 
THE rock garden as a feature of home grounds and 
estates is gaining fresh adherents every day. Those 
who saw the three very pretty displays at the New 
York flower show in April will have a better appreciation 
of the great charm that a collection of Alpine plants give. 
There is something so refreshing, so different from the 
usual line of bedding displays, and something in the rug- 
ged arrangement of the rocks themselves that appeals. 
Do not think that the rock garden requires no care; if 
you like you can plant a collection of such plants as 
Chrysogonum virginicum, Saxifraga umbrosa, Stachys 
lanata, Megaseas, Pinks and Phloxes (dwarf kinds), 
and these will cover your space all right and give you 
flowers and beauty in due season with the minimum of 
care, but that is not advanced rock gardening. Oh, no. 
All the same it is just the course I would advise the be- 
ginner to adopt who has had little or perhaps no expe- 
rience. Get your garden made and select the toughest 
kind of plants for the general furnishing of it. Have 
dwarf evergreen shrubs and a mixture of suitable de- 
ciduous ones for the background, with generous stretches 
of low-growing plants among the rocks. Pockets for 
choice plants could be left here and there or for new 
things one wanted to try — some, in fact, that are stran- 
gers to the grower or owner of the place. The following 
plants deserve attention : Cardamine pratensis, Dicentra 
eximia, Galax aphylla, Geum triflorum, Heucheras, 
Houstonia caerulea, Iris cristata, the Liatrises, Mertensia 
virginicum, various Opuntias, Pachysandra procumbens, 
Pentstemon pubescens, several of the dwarf Phloxes, as 
subulata, divaricata and reptans ; Polemonium reptans, 
Pyrola rotundifolia, Rhexia virginica, Shortia galacifolia, 
Tiarella cordifolia, Viola pedata, and Waldstenia frag- 
arioides. Lastly, some of the Yuccas should be grown, 
All these plants are natives of our own continent and 
can be generally recommended. Some of the nursery 
catalogs are the best guides one can have as to what to 
choose for the rockery. 
* * * 
How often do we have the question put to us or hear 
it put to others, What are the best plants for a shady 
garden ? If one's garden is perfectly somber and con- 
sistently shaded the selection of plants that can be em- 
ployed is severely restricted. Among shrubs are the 
Rhododendrons which, however, will not flower if the 
shade is either too heavy or too persistent. The Moun- 
tain Laurel or Kalmia is another, while our ever-reliable 
friend the Privet may have to be made ample use of. 
Among plants, there is the whole family of hardy ferns, 
and a wonderful group this is as any one who has seen 
such a collection as the one in the care of John Huss at 
the Goodwin place at Hartford, Connecticut, can testify. 
That is one of the best and most complete collections 
of hardy ferns in this country. Ferns, cacti, orchids, 
alpines, hardy perennials, aquatic plants, roses — each and 
all of these can form an endless study of themselves, and 
the person who frowns at the mention of ferns as being 
of no interest to him or her, is either ignorant of what 
a representative collection really provides in the way of 
variety of form and habit, or is hard to please. Any 
really good nursery catalog will act as a guide to the 
best kinds, which will include the Maidenhair (Adiantum 
pedatum) ; the Christmas fern, also called the Fancy 
fern by the florists (Aspidium acrosticoides) ; the Male 
fern (Aspidium Felix-mas), the so-called Dagger fern 
(Aspidium marginale), the Lady fern (Aspidium Felix- 
foemina) ; the beautiful Flowering fern ( Osmunda gra- 
cilis), the pretty Beech fern (Phegopteris Dryopteris), 
and the common Polypody ( Polypodium vulgare). Of 
course each of these has several varieties ; in the case 
of the Male and Lady ferns the varieties are almost end- 
less. These ferns are also found in Europe where their 
different forms are watched, collected, and cultivated 
rather more studiously than is the general rule with us. 
Added to these few are many others that could be named, 
all of them natives here, and most of them are such as 
will succeed in gardens well to the north. Even those 
whose gardens are not of the shady order (and it is for 
the shady garden that this paragraph is written) might 
plant a good selection of hardy ferns. They are a change 
from a garden of all flowers. A good selection of bulb- 
ous plants will flower in a shady garden ; but they must 
be kept renewed. * 
* * # 
Among the plants that go nicely with ferns, where 
these are planted somewhat widely apart, are Fritillaries. 
notably the one called Meleagris, the "Checkered Daf- 
fodil," or Snakeshead ; also Allium Moly, Allium triquet- 
rum, Hepaticas, hardy Cyclamen, Christmas Roses 
(Helleborus niger), and the Lenten Roses (Helleborus 
orientalis). A fine plant for setting out in summer in 
semi-shade is Honesty (Lunaria biennis). Seed should 
be sown every year. The plant flowers early in the spring 
and in summer bears its white, oval seed-pods. These 
can be gathered and dried for decorative uses. Several of 
the Anemones come in well among ferns, as do the Prim- 
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