August io, 1907. 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
5 2 9 
Saxifj-aga lingulata. 
[.Maclaren and Sons. 
A Handsome Alpine. 
The section of Saxifragas characterised 
bv having their leaves in rosettes pro¬ 
duce several very handsome subjects for 
the rock garden, or even for pots in cool 
houses. S. longifolia is considered the 
queen of Saxifragas by those who delight 
in scarce and handsome alpines. There 
are, however, several others which are 
quite indispensable to any good collec¬ 
tion of this class of plants.' 
The accompanying illustration shows a 
small clump in a pot of a species that 
must take rank amongst the best, and 
not very far behind S. longifolia, particu¬ 
larly if we take into consideration the 
varieties of this species which are some¬ 
times grown to great perfection. The 
illustration shows a considerable number 
of relatively small rosettes, but if these 
are separated and grown to full size 
singlv, thev make growth which is quite 
surprising to those who have not tried this 
method of cultivation. 
Some of these varieties to which we 
refer are S.l. lantoscana and S.l. lanto- 
scana superba. If these crowns are pot¬ 
ted in thumb pots, and then shifted into 
6o-size pots and afterwards into 32-size 
pots, they will completely cover the sur¬ 
face with splendid rosettes of leaves be¬ 
fore the plant reaches the flowering state. 
Of course, after these have flowered they 
die, as in the case of all others produc- 
(Saxifraga lingulata.) 
ing these rosettes, but as the latter are 
produced freely there is never any lack 
of material for growing on a supply for 
this method of culture. 
S. lingulata produces a long branching 
panicle or raceme of cymes of white 
flowers with red spots in three lines at 
the base of the petals. The leaves are 
spathulate, and being of the crustaceous 
tvpe they are furnished with a line of 
white spots or pores along either margin, 
and this increases their handsome ap¬ 
pearance considerably, especially if the 
leaves are grown to some size. Those 
who desire the flower stem to stand up 
straight can put a neat stake to it, but 
the picture shows a plant that is quite 
gracefully grown in the natural manner 
without any staking. Neither had it re¬ 
ceived special treatment to get large 
specimens of flowering size. Indeed, only 
one rosette had attained a size sufficiently 
large to flower in the 60-size pot which 
we had photographed in the Alpine House 
at Kew at the end of May. 
Saxifragas of this class delight in a 
well-drained and gritty soil. It need not 
necessarily be poor, for, in fact, plants 
of this class make the best growth if the 
soil is inclined to be rich, although well- 
drained and porous by reason of the 
sand or stones in it. Some lime rubble 
mixed with the soil would be advan¬ 
tageous for the planting of all this class 
of Saxifragas on the rocker} 7 . They are 
not suited for the border, although they 
can be grown there. In an ordinary bor¬ 
der they would be too liable to get over¬ 
grown and shaded with ranker plants. 
On the other hand, they are better to be 
somewhat elevated to keep the foliage 
clean and avoid their being splashed with 
the soil during heavy rains in level bor¬ 
ders. In pots they are of the easiest cul¬ 
tivation, as a compost may be made up 
consisting largely of mellow fibrous loam 
with a fourth part of leaf-mould and 
plenty of sand to make the soil gritty. 
They may be kept in cold frames dur¬ 
ing winter, and stood out on a bed of 
ashes in summer when grown in pots. 
Plants so treated can be utilised for a 
variety of purposes in a cool house dur¬ 
ing May and June when in bloom. 
-- 
Decorated 
— Walls. 
Some Plants which may be 
Used to Beautify Walls. 
There is an impression abroad that no¬ 
thing but Ferns will grow on walls; this 
is quite a mistaken idea. On our walls 
certainly Ferns do grow, where planted, 
the lesser Maidenhair, the Wall Rue, and 
the Polypody; but what really makes 
walls' beautiful are Stonecrops. I have 
three yellow ones, the common one, one 
I brought from among the cobble stones 
m the stable yard at Versailles, and one 
with piettv foliage with flower stems 
about nine inches high. Then I have 
three white ones, two from the walls in 
Savoie, and one, very dwarf, from the 
coast of Ayrshire. There are also two 
moss-like in foliage, one turning red, the 
other always pale green, and both with 
white flowers; but they spring up quite 
pink before they flower. These all grow 
well on a wall in hot or rainy weather, 
and when in flower are very ornamental. 
Cheddar pinks grow from seed on our 
walls, and Woolly Thyme and Wild 
Thyme. A little soil on the top of the 
wall or in the holes between the stones is 
all that is required to grow these things. 
Draba aizoides, too, grows from seed 
into fine mats. Toadflax is useful in 
making its way into very firm walls, and 
will not be denied roothold, quite drap¬ 
ing the sides of walls. Many other things 
would grow on walls with very little 
trouble, if they do not happen to look on 
to a high road where they become tempt¬ 
ing to passers-by. It is a good plan when 
plants are crowding each other in the 
garden to give those that can be spared 
a chance to decorate the walls, and new 
and beautiful effects can be gained, and 
become a source of increasing interest to 
all who admire a lovelv wall. 
M. V. B. 
-f++- 
What is a Weed? 
Dirt has been described as t- matter out 
of place.” In like manner, says a writer 
in a contemporary, I think a weed may be 
well described as a plant out of place. 
