December 13 , 1913 . 
THE GARDENERS- MAGAZINE, 
943 
>C. plantierensis. 
With the exception of M. carnea this 
is quite the beet of the hybrid Horse 
Chestnuts. It is said to have originated in 
the nursery of Messrs. Simon Louis, at 
Plantieres near Metz, as a chance hybrid 
between the Common Horse Chestnut and 
JE. carnea. Characters of both parents can 
be traced in the hybrid, for while the trees 
are as vigorous as the common species, 
which is the seed^bearing parent, the 
flowers are an attractive shade of pink, 
showing the influence of the pollen ^bearing 
parent. Though the tree flowers very freely 
at Kew no fruits are produced. Grafted 
on the Common Horse Chestnut, the trees 
are quite as free and fast in growth as that 
species. Too much can hardly be written 
in praise of this beautiful hybrid. 
A. Osborn. 
(To be continued.) 
succeed in imitating Nature, will lie please 
his own eye and gratify his friends. The 
size of the stones should ala-ays be varied, 
but proportioiKHl, upon the whole, to the in¬ 
tended size of the rockwork. X number 
of detached erections never look well; they 
are stiff and artificial. Rocks of the fame 
kind and colour should lie placed together ; 
if intermixed they seldom wear a natural 
appear^ce. A dark cave, penetrating into 
the thickest part of the erection, is not 
Just as, within a well.arranges! museum, 
the .xtuffed birds, beasts, and reptiles are 
stirrounde<] by branclH^. foliage, an<l bloa- 
soms, c^rth ami atones, suited to their 
nature an«l habits, so the flowers should 
harinoni«» with* the mrks, ami the rocks 
with the trees. A oonvenKmt alab may be 
left hart* iH»re ami there, to serve as a 
iM*at. 
Then' is no reasim why a rockerv U*d, six 
fret by four, slioiild lie inartistic, liut, alas! 
ARTISTIC ROCK GARDENS. 
Perhaps two-thirds of rock gardens, 
counting both the finest and the poorest, 
are spoiled by the similarity of size, if not 
of shape, found in the rocks employed. In 
Nature’s rocky scenes the boulders are 
there as well as the oast peibbles, and all 
inteiinediate sizes are represent^. To 
set up blocks, about a foot square, and make 
an artistic rockery is impossible, for the 
simple reason that Nature’s achievements 
are not cut by Machinery, like cube sugar! 
So the smallest rock garden, being con¬ 
sciously, or unconsciously, modelled on 
natural lines, should show stones of all suit¬ 
able shapes and sizes. An alpine ivickery 
is easiest to plant, aa it can include a vast 
number of perennial species. However, 
there might be several other kinds—a 
South American sandy pass, between high 
rook banks, ablaze with poppies, eschscho- 
Itzias, etc.^ a South African craggy gorge, 
brilliant with ixias, stately with arums and 
gladioli; or a Chinese ascent, or rocky 
plain, radiant with its peeonies. A wood¬ 
land rock garden would be faiirest, because 
most in sympathy, near an English stretch 
of park; and primroses and bluebells are 
never so welcome, anemones so bewitch¬ 
ing, or foxgloves as gleeful as when oc¬ 
cupying levels and edopes of varying 
heights, so that some flowers nod above the 
head of the visitor while others spring 
about his feet. Young silver birches and 
fins, catkin-bearing sallows, and a few 
young dark hollies, would be in place there 
among the carp^ing turf, moss, and 
flowers, and the honeysuckles and single 
roses. 
A rock garden to include water may be 
carried out on a large or a small scale. In 
the latter case it may consist only of one or 
two pool®, with clay-beaten, not stone- 
rimmed sides, and of irregular shape. In 
Ihe former case a wonderland of charm 
should result, glade leading into glade, 
flanked by silent water, bowered over by 
roses, witb reeds, swamp lilies, and gor¬ 
geous phloxes in the moist places, shaded 
here and there by thickets of bamboos and 
polygonums; and, perchance, a quick 
stream with tumbling waterfall may he 
arranged. 
Many years ago a writer in Chambers 
Edinburgh Journal ” gave the following 
admirable hints on the making of a rwk 
garden : “ The rocky ravine, the moimtain s 
and the sea Ibeach, are the most fer¬ 
tile^ sources of materials for a rockery; and 
is necessary, in selecting them, to pay 
^inute attentioin to the manner in which 
Ihe various rocks are deposited in their 
®®veiial beds, and also to the mosses, heaths, 
and ferns which are congenial to them; 
for, in proportion as the selection shall 
iESCULUS PLANTIERENSIS. 
A fine hybrid between M.- Hippocafstanuni and JE. carnea. 
very diflScult to construct, and »lien en- 
circled by ivy and inhabitr^ by a pair of 
horned owb, which may be easily pro- 
cured it will form a most interesting oh- 
many a Riiburban garden contains “ a very 
incongruous heap of stones, chiefly irregii. 
larly-formed flints, the scoriae of forges, 
and large bits of coke from the gas works, 
Rock plants of every dc«ription covered with house leeks, sedums, and 
i^uld Im profLely stuck around, and in other plants.” The safe rule for ^ gar- 
one sLrt twelvemonth the scene will ex- den« is to take Nature always for his 
h*it an impress of antiquity far beyond teacher; she who plants in perfect glades 
w^imtion The whole should he enclosed and groups offers a dozen different stylec 
of iaree foliage, that the visitor to of floriculture m one county, and “ paints 
ihe ^ne may wme iipor it unexpectedly.” the nieiKlows with delight.” M. H. 
