FOREWORD 
'OCky Mountain plants may be divided in two main groups 
for convenience in describing conditions under which they 
grow in their habitat. The first comprises Alpines, plants 
found near timberline and on up to the tops of the highest peaks. 
The second group comprises plants from the high dry plains, 5,000 
to 7,000 ft. elevation. 
Alpine Group: 
About 12,000 ft. high on Pikes Peak are huge red granite boulders 
softened with silver-green lichen, their perpendicular crevices filled 
with complete and utterly satisfying gardens of Boykinia jamesii. 
At the base of these parent boulders are smaller rocks, tons of them 
broken loose, among which are ravishing alpine gardens: Mertensia 
coriaceae with bluest blue bells chiming a full peal, Saxifraga 
chrysantha like delicate fairy buttercups, and that tantalizing un¬ 
tamable beauty, Eritrichium argenteum. 
These grow in a coarse chip-rock of disintegrated granite con¬ 
taining varying amounts of peat. They hibernate under a thick 
blanket of snow, which as it melts provides an underflow of water 
at the toes of the plants below. Thus the air and ground about them 
is always cool. The greatest success in growing alpines in hot 
regions at sea level has been achieved by providing as nearly as 
possible these conditions. A make-believe moraine or scree with 
water piped or tiled underneath and a dappled shade to break the 
direct rays of the sun will work wonders: this for the more diffi¬ 
cult ones. 
Many of the plants found on 14,000 ft. mountains in Colorado 
grow at sea level along the Arctic coast. Dryas octapetala which 
grows at 12,000 ft. on Pikes Peak I found luxuriating by the sea on 
the west coast of Ireland. 
Plains Group: 
Plants of the second group live under conditions totally different 
from those of the high mountains. The soil ranges from loose gravel 
to stiff clay or half decomposed shale, often alkali, sometimes neutral, 
rarely showing the slightest trace of acid, providing no such luxury 
as humus, for these plains are extremely dry except for occasional 
torrential rains in spring and midsummer. Winter is sunny with 
dry winds. Zero temperatures without the protection of snow is the 
usual lot of these plants. Typical of this group are Melampodium 
cinereum, many of the Pentstemons, Townsendias, Yuccas, Galpinsia, 
and of course the hardy Cacti. 
Perhaps the only two conditions common to both groups are: 
(1) thorough drainage; (2) dry crowns after blooming. 
Then there’s a number of both alpines and subalpines, obliging- 
creatures, that grow anywhere the soil is poor and porous, e. g. 
Oenotheras, Artemisias, Antennarias. 
Directions and suggestions for growing new or little-known 
plants are rather futile. A condition moist for Colorado is usually 
dry for England; good garden soil may mean an infinity of things. 
Therefore a description of their habitat and its conditions will serve 
probably better than definite instructions. 
In the following list I have indicated the conditions in which 
plants are found, or under which they grow well in our nursery 
where there’s sunshine 360 days a year, zero temperatures without 
snow, followed by balmy days—a severe test for plants. Here we 
cover the alpine garden with conifer branches during winter as a 
substitute for snow, and with a lath shade in summer. Those plants 
listed without such indications are tolerant of widely varying insults 
in their treatment. 
Kathleen N. Marriage. 
