The Garden Magazine, September, 1923 
21 
order brought plants which grew three feet tall and had light 
yellow-green leaves and flowers similar to those of early Meadow- 
rue (Thalictrum dioicum). These plants are determined to 
possess the garden, walking, or perhaps you would call it stalking, 
around or underneath Iris and Phlox. Last fall. 1 asked for 
Thalictrum dipterocarpum which is catalogued to have violet- 
mauve flowers and I received a plant which is dainty with very 
small leaves but which bore yellow flowers. These have all been 
from Horsford although the confusion might have as easily- 
happened with any other dealer. 
But although I do not find it easy to name Thalictrums, lack 
of names does not mean lack of love or appreciation. They are 
simply charming in the little garden for lightening the effect, and 
there is no time when their foliage is really unsightly. This 
year 1 have had two garden pictures in which the dainty Thalic¬ 
trum foliage played a part and as 1 am always on the outlook for 
experiences of others in the happy combination of plants for a 
small garden 1 am sending them to you. 
The first was in Tulip time when Frederick the Great, an 
Iris which does not rank high by the Iris Society’s symposium, 
but which, blooming early and freely, makes with its soft 
lavender standards and falls of lavender barred with brown a 
delightful companion to Tulip Bronze Queen, softened a bit 
with the Thalictrum throwing its delicate leaves between. In 
this case lavender Tulips beyond helped to repeat the Iris 
colors. 
The later picture was made by a large clump of Iris orientalis 
Snow Queen, unusually floriferous this year, standing behind the 
salmon pink Oriental Poppy, Princess Victoria Louise; and again 
the Thalictrum at one side and between. The foliage of all 
three so different and the colors of the ilowers clear and fresh 
gave a pleasing effect.— Laura Sikes, Minnesota. 
R EFTRR 1 NG to the article in the July issue of your maga¬ 
zine by Mr. Stephen F. Hamblin, “New Mid-Season 
Perennials’’; I have had the Salvia virgata nemorosa now for two 
years, and am pleased to say that it is a very fine perennial. 
It is now (late June) a mass of bloom, and will, judging by its 
performance last year, remain so for four to six weeks. It is 
about eighteen inches high. The dominant color is purple. 
It is an especially fine perennial for massing.— Arthur F. King- 
don, IVest Virginia. 
THE USE OF ROCKS IN THE GARDEN 
ALLISON M. WOODMAN 
Landscape Designer 
8 HAT is a rock garden? The name calls to mind an 
image of a rock-covered area with low-growing rock 
and alpine plants growing in between or over the 
rocks. A real rock garden, however, is not made 
simply by throwing together a miscellaneous lot of stones; it 
requires no slight ingenuity and planning to get it to look at all 
“ natural.” 
Some home places are fortunate enough to contain fine speci¬ 
mens of rock which, with little or no change in their disposition, 
can be readily utilized in forming a rock garden. A single 
large rock, or a small mass or rocks varying in size, beautiful 
in outline and highly colored, will furnish an excuse for growing 
a few rock plants about them, and a few dark green evergreens 
like Spruces, Firs, and Cedars to supply a background. 
Nature is not always followed to the letter in landscape 
gardening, yet she is the inspiration for many of the finest ef¬ 
fects in the artificial landscape. Close observation of forma¬ 
tions in a naturally rocky region will reveal chunks of rock, vary¬ 
ing in size, apparently having been abruptly broken off the large 
rock formations, per¬ 
haps by violent erup¬ 
tions of the earth’s 
surface, or bv natural 
weathering processes 
The largest pieces will 
be found nearest the 
main rock, with smaller 
fragments scattered at 
various distances from 
it, but within a definite 
radius. Accumulations 
of soil, leaves, and vege¬ 
table debris will fre¬ 
quently half-cover many 
of these small frag¬ 
ments. Such is the nat¬ 
ural rock garden which 
is the best type to imi¬ 
tate as far as practical. 
Merely accumulating a 
lot of rocks without giv¬ 
ing some thought to their proper placement usually only begets 
a monstrosity. 
Rocks vary greatly in their composition, which fact divides 
them into several classes and before going to the trouble and 
expense of hauling rocks any distance it is a good plan to break 
up a few rocks with a rock cleaver to ascertain if they are really 
suitable or not. The soft shale-like rocks, limestone, slate, and 
similar compositions are quite unsuited to the rock garden, 
although they are admirably adapted to use in stepping-stone 
walks and on terraces. They either present surfaces lying in one 
plane, or, when broken up, present jagged edges; in either case- 
they are not particularly interesting or beautiful. Granitic rocks 
and those containing veins of mica, feldspar, pyrites, quartz 
crystals, and other colored minerals, are ideal for the garden. 
T HE) situation of the rock garden is a matter of paramount 
importance. It is an obvious incongruity to make a rock 
garden part of a generally formal plan, unless the rocks are 
built up into a grotto placed at the end of an axis, the grotto 
being more or less for¬ 
mal in appearance. 
Equally, where rocks in 
considerable quantity 
are already in place, the 
entire garden may take 
on the character of a 
rock garden, and no 
other type of garden 
presents equally great 
possibilities. 
The rock garden may 
constitute almost the 
entire garden, or it may 
form a separate, distinct 
part of the garden; if the 
latter, it should have 
suitable approaches to 
keep it from looking too 
isolated. Placing it as 
an adjunct to the formal 
garden would be a be- 
DODGING MONOTONY WITH SUCCESS 
A smail group of rocks of varying size or even a single large rock furnishes adequate excuse 
for growing a few suitable plants backed by the darker green of Spruces, Firs, or Cedars 
