80 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ February 4, 1892. 
a loose appearance, quite different from the other species. It is of slender 
habit and suggestiya of some of the Xiphions. It flovyers in spring, and 
was brought from the Oape to England about the commencement of the 
present centur 7 . 
V. tricuspid .—This is one of the least attractive of the family, but is 
very free in growth and production of flowers. These are small, of dull 
white colour with a purplish blotch in the centre of the segments, and 
they are produced ia May and June. It was first discovered by Thun- 
berg at the Cape, and was introduced thence to Kew by Masson in 1776. 
A yedow variety of this, by some named V. tricuspis lutea, and by others 
V. Bellendeni, was ebtaioed from the Cape twenty years later. The 
floral segments are small^ rounded, yellow, with a few dark spots near 
the base. 
V. vUlosa .—A handsome companion for Y. glaucopis, but even sur¬ 
passing that in beauty. Fig. 14, page 96, shows a flower of the natural 
size, and well represents the form. The outer perianth segments are 
broadly oval, of a rich purple tint, with a central crescent of deep blue 
and a blotch of bright ytllow at the base. The larger size of the flowers 
and the broader leaves render it one of the finest in the genus. It is a 
Cape species introduced nearly a hundred years since, and it succeeds 
well outsice iu suitable positions similar to that noted as required by 
V. glauoop a. The t wo forms figured are those especially worth cultiva¬ 
tion, and u a third is needed, V. pavonia should be selected.—C. 
ROCK GARDENS. 
Among the many changes which English gardens have under¬ 
gone during the past twenty years, consequent upon the downfall 
of the bedding-out systeno, has been the making of rock gardens 
for the especial purpose of growing in greater perfection some of 
the charming flowers of Alpine regions. Some of these on a 
grand scale, others less pretentious it has been my good fortune 
to visit. The charming one at Messrs. Backhouse at York, 
which, taking it all in all, is, I think, the most perfect one 
I have ever seen. I have seen, too, the world famed garden 
of the Rev. H. Bwbank, at St. John’s Vicarage, Ryde. I 
have also visited the grand ones at Floore, near Weedon, when 
Sir E. Loder lived there (by-the-by, I am told he is making 
another at his pre-^ent residence at Leonardslee, near Horsham). 
I have also seen what I ventured to designate as the Broxbourne 
Alps at Messrs. Paul & Son, and of course Mr. Ware’s of 
Tottenham, and Mr. Q-. F. Wilson’s at Weybridge, and I have seen 
many smaller ones in private gardens. There are rockeries and 
rockeries ; there are rockeries which are in good taste, and rockeries 
which are the reverse. I call to mind one which I once described 
in the pages of this Journal (a description for which I was con¬ 
siderably roughly handled), where a high mound in front of the 
drawing-room windows was built up to represent a mountain top. 
On the uppermost ridge were small Pine trees, and the 
insterstices of the rocks were filled in mostly, horresco rsferens, with 
scarlet Greraoiums, yellow Calceolarias, and Pyrethrum, but I hope 
that such a monstrosity is rare. One of the most charming that I 
have seen was—alas I that I should have to use the past tense—that 
of my friend Mr. W. O. Hammond of St. Albans Court, near Wing- 
ham in Kent. He had been fired with enthusiasm on one of his ex¬ 
cursions in the Pyreaees, and had a most delightful rockery formed 
out of a quarry, and for years it was very delightful; but as he has 
been obliged to gwe up mountaineering the poor rock garden has 
fared badly, and miy now be regarded as a thing of the past. 
There is yet one which I hope to see this spring, that of Mr. 
H. Selfe Leonard of Hilmanbury, Godaiming, of which I hear 
much, and when I understand one item of it is 600 or 700 plants 
of Saxifraga longifolia vera I expect to be considerably enlightened. 
Nor must I omit that of the Rev. C. Wolley Dod of Edge Hall, 
Malpas, although I think his herbaceous garden is more noticeable 
than his rock garden, 
But my object in writing is not to display these great lights, 
but rather it may be to help forward those who, like myself, 
straitened by the amount of ground they have at their disposal, 
and equilly so by the amount of cash they have to expend upon it, 
have to keep near shore and not attempt great things. 
In considering the various rockeries I have seen I have, I think, 
noted two kinds—one in which the plants themselves were the 
main, indeed, I may say, the sole consideration, and where the 
general appearance of tire rockery was not considered. On the 
other hand, there are those where a good deal of consideration 
is given to the plants, but the general picturesqueness of the rock 
garden is also made a point of importance. Probably had I seen a’l 
these various speed lens of rock gardening before I made my own I 
might have made it somewhat different, but as it has done fairly 
well I may by detailing my method of procedure be a help to 
others. 
The first requisite for making a rockery, the rocks (or stones) 
themselves is a point on which £ had some considerable difficulty. 
some parts of this county we hive large tracts (such as at 
Tunbridge Wells) of sandstone, which I look upon as the best 
material wherewith to make the foundations of a rockery ; but 
although my friend Mr. Hammond obtained his from there at a 
great expense I was unable to do so, and had to content myself 
with Kentish rag, a sort of bastard limestone, very unsuitable from 
its unpicturesque character for the purpose. Moreover, it is easily 
affected by fr ist, and has a most unpleasant way of crumbling to 
pieces when the frost has been severe. There was in this parish an 
Old cottage which had been roughly built many years ago with this 
stone, and had been pulled down. I obtained permission to use 
these, and as many of them were of good size, they came in 
capitally for mj' purpose. As my space was very limited I had no 
choice of situation. Most people say that the rockery should run 
east and west, and that an eastern aspect is that in which most 
rock plants rejoice ; indeed, Mr. Wolley Dod, a high authority on 
such matters, says that a west aspect is the worst one for alpine 
plants. I had no choice, and so my rockery runs north and south. 
Of course there is an east aspect, but the principal one is west, 
while a turn at each end gives a north and south aspect also, the 
former of these being indispensable for plants such as Ramondia 
pyrenaica. My principal rockery is about 100 feet long, and from 
6 to 6 feet wide. It is rather flatter than I should make it if 
I had to make it over again. It is not on the level, but runs down 
a slope in the garden, and forms at one part a hollow, where a good 
deal of water collects, and where I have been enabled to grow 
successfully some plants which like a wet and peaty soil. Having 
marked out the place I then placed the stones in such positions as 
I thought would suit the plants, and leaving some places which 
acted as pockets, where the more dwarf-growing species might have 
a place to themselves. 
With regard to the soil with which the spaces between the stones 
are to be filled, my experience is that a good sound sandy loam 
suits most plants very well. There are some which will require 
special soil for themselves. Thus in the case of the Dianthus it will 
be well to have a spot filled in with leaf mould as recommended by 
M. Henri Oorrevon in his work on Alpine plants, while some 
others, like the American Orchids, Trilliums, Parnassias, like 
a peaty moist soil ; on the other band some of the Gentians, 
notably G. verna, are lime-loving plants, and it will be well to 
see that where they are planted there should be either limestone 
or chalk. But there is a large number of plants well suited for 
the rockery which do not seem to be over-particular, and will 
adapt themselves to any situation or soil; thus the beautiful 
Gentiana acaulis, or Gentianella as it is commonly called, will 
flourish in the most varied situations. I know a garden in East 
Kent where it is used as a broad edging round all the flower 
beds, and when in bloom is a sight to behold, and the soil there is 
a stiff tenacious loam almost approaching to clay. I know another 
garden where it does almost equally well, where the soil is a rich 
alluvium which has for generations been enriched by manure, 
while I can bear witness to its doing well in a friable loam. We 
have in our herbaceous borders a plant which by its name, 
Gypsopbila, shows that it is a lime-loving plant, yet it flourishes in 
the most varied soils, and in them all alike forma its large fleshy 
roots ; so that, all things considered, I think this light loam is 
almost as good a material as can be used, it can also be easily 
added to. 
Experience will be probably the best teacher for us (I have 
found it so in my own case) as to what plants we shall attempt to 
grow, and in our rockeries there are some which we very much like 
to try. We have seen them sometimes, and we ask ourselves 
why can’t we do them ? Well we try, and the result is disappointing. 
In my early days I tried Eritrichium nanum ; it was a foolish 
thing to attempt after Mr. Backhouse had told me he had 
utterly failed to establish it. There is Lewisia rediviva, quaint and 
pretty. But, alas! as a result of a similar attempt he found a good 
deal of the Lewisia but very little of the rediviva. Then, again, 
the charming little Primula minima has rudely resisted all my 
attempts to give it a hospitable reception, and yet what a charming 
little gem it is. There are three other plants which is well to 
avoid for the very oppo.«ite reason, that they are too vigorous 
in their mode of growth. Thus in an evil hour I put a plant of that 
charming dwarf Rose, Ro^a pyrenaica, on a part of my rockery. 
It was very delightful for a year or two, but after that it became 
a perfect nuisance. It’s hard undergound suckers inserted themselves 
everywhere. I cut them away, but they reappeared, and I had 
nothing left for me but to take up all that part of my rockery and get it 
all out if I (xmld. Well, I pretty well succe^'ded, but then a comical 
thing happened. In the place from which I had taken it I placed 
a plant of that delightful (when you can get it) Cahfornian plant 
Zauschneiia californica, but this was as bad as the other. Although 
very softwooded, and easier to manage, it spread all over the 
place, intruded itself where it was not wanted. In ono respect it was 
worse than its predecessor, for whereas that did flower, I have 
