you will be rewarded with many hours of enjoyable reading and with a great 
store of rock gardening knowledge: Rock Gardens and Rock Plants, by F. J. 
Chittenden; The Present Day Rock Garden, by Sampson Clay; Rock Garden 
and Alpine Plants, by Henry Correvon; Rock Garden Plants, by Clarence 
Elliott; The English Rock Garden, by Reginald Farrer; American Alpines in 
the Garden, by Anderson McCully; Alpines in Colour and Cultivation, by T. 
C. Mansfield; Natural Rock Gardening, by B. H. B. Symons-Jeune; Rock 
Garden Primer, by Archie Thornton; Pleasures and Problems of a Rock 
Garden, by Louise B. Wilder. Some of the above books are out of print, how- 
ever most can be obtained from garden book sellers or public libraries. 
WALL GARDENS AND PLANTED WALKS 
If it is seemingly impossible to incorporate a rock garden into the exist- 
ing landscape on small plots, as in some heavily populated suburban areas, it 
is still possible to enjoy the delightful flower and foliage effect of many tiny 
alpines in an easily constructed wall garden. Here of course, your selection 
of plants will be somewhat limited, but nevertheless there is still a long list 
of fine subjects that are perfectly adaptable to this type of culture and some 
that will not thrive anywhere else. 
7 _e> RETAINING WALL— 
If you plan to build a beautiful living | en a : 
wall, build it according to the accompanying fp, 
sketch. The dimensions given are minimum 
sizes and the wall may be made thicker if 
desired. Use rough, flat stones if possible, 
slanting each stone toward the center. A 
slant of two inches to a foot of height is 
enough to catch rain. Instead of using 
cement to hold it together, use a compost of 
two-thirds sandy loam and one-third leaf- 
mold or peat, with a handful of dry sheep | ™s 
or cow manure and bone meal to each pail of compost. Be sure the greatest 
portion of the wall contains neutral to alkaline soil, necessary for most rock 
plants. Use the compost dry and fill in between the stones as you would 
with concrete. 
The best stones to use are the flat, soft, moisture retaininb stones, such 
as sandstone, slate, shale or flagstone. Granite, limestone and the round field 
stones are also possibilities but they are a bit harder to work with. 
