Colorado Springs, Colorado 15 
It may help to explain how I made my rock garden for these 
Rocky Mountain and other alpines. A west slope was the only one 
available. Against this we slapped loads of clean gravel, coarse for 
the bottom six inches, then about pea-size. On about 12 inches deep 
of this we arranged our rocks, brown sandstone rather nicely lichened, 
then more gravel till the conventional one-third volume of rocks was 
buried. This we watered and watered till all intentions toward 
settling were satisfied. The last layer of 2 to 4 inches was a mixture 
of 1-3 peat, 1-3 compost, and 1-3 coarse sand. This at 4-inch depth 
for Aquilegia, Primulas, and their natural companions; 2 inches for 
alpine Saxifrages, Phloxes, etc. These two groups and their ilk are 
in the dappled shade of an Aspen tree. 
To dry plains dwellers such as Melampodium, Pentstemon, Town- 
sendia, we gave the sunniest slope and no peat-compost mixture on 
top of their gravel. This sounds like starvation fare but they all 
like it and they refrain from becoming overgrown. 
Since our climate is semi-arid we provided sub-irrigation through 
underground pipes, a procedure unnecessary in regions of moderately 
humid air and rainfall. 
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. 
Many alpine seels are slow, others germinate well only after they 
have been subjected to frost, and a snow-covering works wonders. 
In introducing the rare plants from the Colorado Rockies, we 
offer only species of distinct horticultural value. Many requests 
come for plants (usually negligible cousins of desirable species) of 
botanical rather than of aesthetic interest. These we will endeavor 
to collect if required for botanical collections. Duplicate specimens 
from our herbarium are available, also photographs of many species. 
For identification we consult: New Manual of Botany of the 
Central Rocky Mountains by Coulter & Nelson; Rocky Mountain 
Flowers by Clements & Clements; Flora of Colorado by P. A. 
Rydberg. 
KeeN M. 
