THE LADY’S MAGAZINE OF GARDENING. 7 
employed for the larger rocks. It will easily be perceived that it required 
the eye of an artist, combined with great good taste, to arrange these 
materials so as to produce the desired effect; as a single false step would 
have made the whole pass from the sublime to the ridiculous. Lady 
Broughton, however, has contrived to steer clear of the dangers that beset 
her, and has produced a scenic illusion perfectly unique of its kind. It is 
indeed quite impossible for any words or engraving to give an adequate idea 
of the singularity and beauty of this rocky boundary; and it is equally 
impossible to describe the care and thought which must have been required 
to bring the whole to its present state of perfection. Lady Broughton 
informed Mr. Loudon that it occupied a great portion of her time for six 
or eight years, and that it was a task of the greatest difficulty to make it 
stand against the weather. “Bain washed away the soil, and frost 
swelled the stones ; and several times the main wall failed from the weight 
put upon it.” 
The flower-garden adjoining the rock work consists of a series of circular 
flower-beds on a lawn; and these beds, which are filled with the rarest 
and choicest flowers, contrast strongly with the rocky boundary beyond 
them. (See fig. 3.) On passing through this garden, the stranger 
enters the open part of the rock work, (see fig. 4.) which is planted with 
a collection of the most beautiful Alpine plants, particularly those of low 
growth ; each is placed in a little bed of suitable soil, the surface of which 
is covered by broken fragments of stone, clean-washed river gravel, the 
remains of decaying moss, &c. according as the object is to retain moisture 
around those plants which are liable to be injured by drought, or to eva¬ 
porate it from those plants which are likely to damp off; fragments of 
dark stone are also used to absorb the heat for those plants which require 
warmth ; and fragments of white stone to reflect the heat from the roots 
of those which require to be kept cool. 
Among the plants grown on the rocks, are several kinds of Saxifrage and 
Cistus; numerous Ledums, Heartseases, and different kinds of Violets, 
Anemones, Heaths, Campanulas, Alyssums, Hepaticas; various kinds of 
Snap-dragon and Toad-flax; several kinds of Columbines Asters, and 
wild Geraniums ; the Forget-me-not, the beautiful little wall-plant Erinus 
alpinus, several kinds of Lychnis, and Anagallis, the Arabis or wall-cress, 
the Bugloss, Cheiranthus alpinus, with its tufts of pale yellow flowers, 
Cyclamens, Saponaria ocymoides, or Soapwort, Aubretia purpurea, 
Soldanella alpina, Polygala Chamsebuxus, Gaultheria Shallon; the dwarf 
Rhododendrons, viz. B. hirsutum, and B. ferrugineum, Thyme, the 
beautiful Gentiana acaulis, several kinds of Statice or sea-lavender, several 
kinds of Silene, the Perennial Flax, several Gysophilas, Hypericum or 
