June 29, 1901. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
705 
ing. You should encourage it to grow as much as 
possible, as it is then that it stores up elaborated 
food in its bulb for the next year. This applies to 
all bulbs alike. 
Caladiums.— Rex .: When your plants have 
finished growing and the leaves are mature, you can 
with safety harden them oS and use them for the 
Strawberry The Laxton (see p. 699). 
decoration of the conservatory. The lightest place 
possible should be given to them, as they soon lose 
their colour when taken from the light. You can 
keep them in a cool house to finish off, and with the 
low temperature and gradually diminished supply of 
water, you will find your corms will plump up well. 
Striking Dracaenas.— A.M .: If your plant has 
become leggy, you can either nick the stem close to 
the top and then keep a ball of wet moss tied round 
Strawberry Fillbasket (see p. 699). 
it, or you can sever the top completely and stick it 
in a bottle of water, in which several pieces of char¬ 
coal should be placed to keep the water fresh, but it 
should be changed twice a week. If it is kept it a 
warm, shady place, it will soon put out new root*, 
and can then be potted up. The old stem will pro¬ 
duce a large number of plants if cut up into sections 
and placed in a pan of wet sand in a warm house. 
THE HOCK GARDEN. 
In no other department of the outdoor garden can a 
greater or more continued succession of flowers be 
obtained than in a well stocked rock garden or 
rockery, according to its extent and pretensions. 
Just in proportion to the cultivator or collector’s 
love for the dwarfer forms of hardy plants, and 
according to the number he has under his care, will 
he be proud of the same, and look upon his collec¬ 
tion as a continual source of pleasure, not unalloyed, 
perhaps, for there are many difficulties, disappoint¬ 
ments, and ihishaps with which he has to contend ; 
but the pleasure is there all the same, and the more 
skilful will generally be the most successful, all 
things being equal. At no period of the year are 
interesting plants more numerous, perhaps, than in 
May and June, though individuals may give prefer¬ 
ence to certain flowers that come earlier, or that 
more properly belong to the domain of spring. 
Those of broad views and wide taste will strive to 
keep up a succession of flowers during the greatest 
number of months in the year, which the climate of 
this particular district may permit. At the same 
time, by the use of dwarf evergreen, and berried 
plants, the rock garden may be made a source of 
pleasure at all seasons of the year, and in proportion 
to the neatness with which it is kept and the varied 
aspects it presents, so will it be a perennial source of 
pleasure. 
Alterations may alwaj s be going on during autumn, 
winter, and spring when plants may be lifted or 
transplanted with safety, while the rest of the year 
has its cares, its pleasures, and duties. Fresh 
positions may be considered necessary for certain 
plants, as time and experience show what the 
requirements of each special class or species of plant 
may be. Instead of transplanting the original 
specimens, however, it often proves advisable to 
make the experiment with smaller or younger plants. 
This will necessitate the rearing of fresh specimens 
from seeds, cuttings, or la5ers as the case may be. 
Propagation is in itself uninteresting operation, more 
particularly to those who have a decided liking for 
the plants in their possession or under their care. 
This may be carried on all the summer, where the 
collection is a large one, as many can be more suc¬ 
cessfully propagated at certain seasons than others, 
much being dependent upon the plants themselves 
and upon the conditions under which they are 
grown, or the state of the weather for the time being. 
The experienced cultivator or propagator knows all 
these things, and acts accordingly. 
Erodium chamaedryoides. 
Several species of the Heron’s Bill (Erodium) are 
amongst the neatest subjects that may be planted on 
the rockery, and that under notice is particularly so. 
Many plant collectors already know it under the 
name of E. Reichardi, a neat plant of dwarf and 
tufted habit, hailing from the Balearic Islands and 
Corsica. From the latter island we have an inter¬ 
esting lot of plants, all characterised by their minia¬ 
ture size and adaptability for the rockery or alpine 
garden, the occupants of which need not necessarily 
be truly alpines, so long as they are of dwarf habit 
and adapted for this method of cultivation. The 
flowers of E. chamaedryoides are about the size of a 
shilling or nearly, white, and produced singly on 
stalks just rising above the surface of the dense tuft 
of roundly heart-shaped leaves. 
Linaria hepaticaefolia. 
None of the species of Linaria or Toad flax lie 
more closely to the ground than this interesting little 
species. It may be compared to the British L. 
Cymbalaria, but all parts are smaller, and the stems 
creep along the ground, rooting into it and not 
hanging in a loose wisp as in the case of the other 
just named. Owing to this neat habit of growth, 
the flowers are well displayed above the foliage, so 
that this tiny creeping species always makes a better 
show than its relative. It is admirably adapted for 
planting in small pockets of the lower parts of the 
rockery where it can creep over the damp stones and 
run into neighbouring pockets through the crevices 
and narrow straits that separate them. This habit 
of growth gives it a charm of its own, which planters 
would do well to recognise. 
Chamaelirion carolinianum. 
When grown in pots and kept in cold frames, this 
neat and pretty member of the Lily family flowers 
about the end of May; but under such conditions it 
does not, as a rule, exceed 6 in. or 9 in. in height. 
The best place for it is in the bottom of the rockery, 
where it may be planted in a partly peaty soil to 
conserve the moisture. If shaded from the afternoon 
sun, but not overhung by trees, so that it will not be 
subjected to the deleterious influences of the long 
afternoon sun and the influence of a dry atmosphere, 
Strawberry Trafalgar (see p. 699). 
it will vary from 12 in. to 18 in. in height, when the 
dense, cylindrical spikes of small white flowers 
become indeed very interesting and pretty. The 
spathulate, light green leaves form a tuft confined to 
the base of the stem. It is now in perfection. 
Aster alpinus superbus. 
The Michaelmas Daisies have their summer repre¬ 
sentatives, to which a separate name must needs 
apply. All the same, some of the summer flowering 
perennial Asters are very pretty or even showy and 
dwarf in habit which adapts th°m for the rock 
garden. The variety under notice is notable for the 
size and deep blue colour of its flowers, purple-blue 
some would call it, yet it is decided and telling 
Strawberry Laxton’s Climax (see p. 699). 
enough. The plant is only about 6 in. high, and 
flowers during the latter part of May and in June, 
earlier or later, according, to the season. Propaga- 
gation is easily effected by cuttings of the flowerless 
shoots in sandy soil under a hand light at this time 
or later; and also by division of the clumps in 
March. 
Dianthus caesius. 
The Cheddar Pink is one of the neatest and most 
