January  8,  1903. 
JOUBisAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
27 
Making  an  Alpine  Garden. 
“How  to  Make  and  Plant  an  Alpine  Rock  Garden”  wa.s  the 
title  of  a  lecture  delivered  by  Mr.  Edward  Lovett,  41,  Outram 
Road,  Croydon,  on  October  21,  1902,  before  the  Croydon  and 
District  Horticultural  Mutual  Improvement  Society,  a  brief 
outline  of  which  we  give  here. 
Of  late  yeiars  a  great  change  has  taken  place  in  “  garden¬ 
ing  ” !  The  old  stiff  and  formal  methods  have  given  way  to  a 
more  natural  style,  and  rock  gardens  have  naturally  attracted 
a  large  amount  of  attention,  not  only  because  of  their  more 
artistic  and  beautiful  appearance,  but  because  Alpine  plants 
are  attractive  and  pretty  all  the  year  round.  Be.sides  this,  the 
proper  sense  of  proportion  has  shown  us  that  in  small  gardens 
the  plants  should  alsO'  be  small.  The  custom  of  planting  giant 
Sunflowers  in  a  small  garden  only  makes  that  garden  look 
smaller,  whereas  the  arranging  of  the  same  space  as  a  rock 
garden  for  the  growing  of  small  mountain  plants  not  only  adds 
to  its  beauty,  but  gives  the  idea  of  quite  a  large  area. 
Perhaps  only  those  who  have  had  the  great  privilege  of 
wandering  about  Switzerland  can  fully  appreciate  the  inarvellous 
beauty  of  the  flowers  of  the  mountains  in  the  spring  time  of  the 
year.  So  soon  as  the  snow  melts  upon  the  lower  slopes  of  the 
Alps  thousands  of  tiny  flowers  burst  into  bloom.  Saxifrages  and 
Gentians,  Silenes  and  Sedums,  Primulas  and  Potentillas  cover 
the  hillside  with  delicate  colours,  backed  up  by  the  soft  grey  of 
the  rock  and  crowned  by  a  glory  of  snow  and  ice.  No  wonder 
that  the  traveller  wishes  to  transfer  such  plants  to  his  garden  at 
home,  and  this  can  easily  be  done,  for  with  a  little  care  and 
attention  Alpine  plants  can  be  grown  with  success,  even  in 
London  itself,  and  certainly  in  Croydon  (Surrey). 
The  Old-fashioxed  Rockery 
was  about  as  bad  as  could  be.  It  was  a  mere  mound  of  poor 
soil,  or  rubbish,  dotted  over  with  stones  or  bricks,  like  plums  in 
a  badly-cooked  pudding.  Or  it  was  represented  by  a.  long  bank 
of  earth,  stuck  here  and  there  with  wretched  “  burrs  ”  in  the 
most  unnatural  positions.  There  rockeries  caught  no-  rain,  as  it 
all  ran  off,  and  were  usually  tenanted  by  a  few  unhealthy  plants 
or  Arabis  or  Vinca,  relieved  by  a,  bit  of  straggling  Ivy. 
In  the  building  of  a  good  Alpine  rock  garden  we  will  con- 
.sider  the  aspect,  drainage,  rock  materials,  construction,  soils, 
planting,  choice  of  position  for  plant.s,  and  nomenclature.  The 
garden  may  be  of  three  kinds ;  first,  an  open  rock  garden,  built 
on  the  ordinary  level  of  the  ground  ;  second,  a  high  ledge  rock 
work  erected  against  a  wall ;  and  third,  a  valley  rock  garden, 
excavated  in  some  suitable  part  of  the  ground  available  for  the 
l^urpose.  In  each  case  the  same  instructions  \Yill  apply. 
Now,  as  regards  the  question  of  aspect,  this  is  quite  im¬ 
material,  provided  the  plants  are  selected  with  some  care  for 
sun  dr  shade,  dryness  or  moisture,  as  the  case  may  be  ;  but  it 
must  be  clearly  kept  in  view  that  Alpine  plants  will  not  flourish 
when  over-shadowed  by  trees  or  shrubs,  and  that  the  more  fresh 
air  they  get  the  better  they  like  it.  The  coldest  exposure,  even 
in  the  depth  of  winter,  is  natural  to  them  ;  but  coddling  in  any 
shape  or  form  they  strongly  resent.  Indeed,  if  I  was  asked  what 
plants  would  grow  in  a.  very  draughty  side  passage,  where  the 
sun  seldom  came,  I  should  recommend  the  Sempervivum  as 
being  perhaps  the  only  plant  capable  of  living  under  such  ad¬ 
verse  conditions.  We  now  come  to  the  question  of  drainage, 
and  this  is  one  of  the  most  important  factors  in  the  cultivation 
of  Alpine  plants. 
In  the  mountain  homes  of  the.se  little  flowers  ventilation, 
both  above  and  below  ground,  is  absolutely  perfect.  The  soil 
is  free,  fresh,  and  clean,  the  water  is  always  moving,  and  fun¬ 
goid  decomposition  is  almost  tinknown.  To  obtain  these  condi¬ 
tions  in  a  suburban  garden  is  not  so  easy,  but  it  can  be  done  by 
making  up  a  good  foundation  for  our  rock  gardens  of  a  quantity 
of  very  coarse,  porous  material,  such  as  potsherds,  broken  brick, 
clinker,  cinders,  coke,  or  any  such  refuse. 
Should  the  rock  garden  be  a  large  one  it  is  even  an  advan¬ 
tage  to  build  a  rough  cavity  beneath  it  to  insure  good  drainage. 
We  will  now  turn  to  the 
Materials  for  Constructing; 
a  rock  garden.  This  naturally  opens  up  a  very  wide  range,  for 
where  expense  is  no  object  massive  blocks  of  rough  limestone 
or  tufa  can  be  obtained,  than  which  nothing  is  better;  but  we 
must  also  consider  the  owner  of  the  small  subui-ban  garden. 
Presuming  that  the  soil  of  the  rock  garden,  to  which  I  shall 
refer  later,  is  carefully  selected,  the  framework,  so  to  speak, 
may  be  constructed  of  almost  any  strong  and  fairly  permanent 
material.  In  our  own  locality,  situated  as  we  are  on  the  edge 
of  the  tertiary  beds,  "  rock  ”  is  a  scarce  article,  but  we  have 
near  us  .some  useful  stone  in  the  lower  greensand  beds  near  God- 
stone  and  other  places.  I  have  already  said  that  the  “  burrs  ” 
from  brick  kilns  are  to  be  avoided  for  several  reasons,  but  they 
can  be  made  useful  for  our  purpose  by  treating  them  as  follows : 
First  of  all  go  over  them  with  a  hammer  and  knock  off  or  break 
up  straight  lines  and  angles,  neither  of  which  exists  in  nature. 
Then,  having  .selected  a  time,  say  in  autumn,  of  warm,  damp 
weather,  wash  the  burrs  over  with  cement.  If  this  be  done 
properly  they  will  retain  the  grey  colour  of  the  limestone,  and 
as  they  are  not  liable  to  the  action  of  frost,  they  will  form  good 
“  rock  ”  of  a  permanent  tint,  very  suitable  for  our  purpose. 
But  brick  burrs,  as  they  come  from  the  kiln,  are  unnatural, 
hideous,  and  poisonous.  There  is  only  one  thing  worse,  and  that 
is  a  broken  up  gas  retort.  Chalk  would  do  well  for  our  purpose 
if  it  were  not  for  the  fact  that  it  is  easily  disintegrated  by  frost. 
Blocks  of  sandstone  are  good,  but  care  must  be  taken  that  they 
are  laid  in  their  natural  beclding,  otherwise  they,  too,  will  be 
broken  up  by  frost  action.  Old  blocks  of  concrete  are  very  good, 
being  rough  in  outline  and  grey  in  colour.  Having  now  selected 
.suitable  material  for  the  building  of  the  rock  garden,  we  will 
proceed  to 
The  Construction. 
A.S  already  stated,  the  same  broad  lines  as  to  the  natural 
building  up  of  an  Alpine  garden  apply  equally  to  the  v'arious 
types  of  such  a  garden,  such  as  terrace,  cliff,  or  valley  arrange¬ 
ment.  The  main  idea  firstly  is  to  make  up  a  foundation  of  such 
loose  material  as  to  form  the  most  perfect  drainage  possible  for 
the  super-imposed  .structure;  then  form  the  outline  of  the  rock 
work  with  good-sized  pieces  of  the  prepared  “  rock,”  keeping  in 
view  that  whilst  strictly  avoiding  .straight  lines,  stiffness,  or 
uniformity,  yet  neatness  and  continuity  of  outline  must  be 
observed,  otherwi,se  the  rock  garden  will  look  like  a  rubbish 
heap.  Having  arranged  the  basal  outline,  fill  in  level  to  the  top 
of  the  rock  with  unmanured  earth,  as  poor  as  yoH  like,  settling 
it  down  with  quantities  of  water.  When  this  is  thoroughly 
settled,  and  more  earth  added  to  fill  up  to  level  of  rock,  add  the 
second  tier  of  stone,  leaving  a  ledge  or  step  of  gently  varying 
width,  filling  in  and  settling  with  water  as  before.  Rejieat  this 
process  to  the  height  required,  so  that  the  whole  structure  shall 
represent  a  series  of  steps  or  terraces,  no  two  being  alike,  and 
having  none  of  their  outlines  straight  or  in  any  respect  angular. 
These  terraces  can  now  be  divided  up  here  and  there  into 
pockets  if  desired,  such  pockets  being  arranged,  if  possible,  on 
slightly  different  levels.  When  completed  turn  the  hose  on  to 
the  whole  .structure,  settling  the  soil  well  into  the  joints  and 
hollows  of  the  rockwork.  If  any  of  the  stones  settle  down  too 
much,  or  fall  out,  now  is  the  time  to  rectify  the  defects,  and  not 
when  all  the  plants  are  in.  The  terraces,  too,  should  slope 
slightly  inwards,  so  as  to  catch  all  the  rainfall,  and  not  throw 
it  off.  When  sufficient  time  has  elapsed  for  the  garden  to  .settle 
down,  we  will  proceed  to  the  important  questions  of  soils  and 
planting  in  the  next  issue. 
- - 
OUT=OF=SEASON  FLOWERS. 
The  mildness  of  the  autumn  was  the  means  of  prolonging 
the  outdoor  flowering  season  to  a  wonderful  degree,  and  though 
this  wealth  of  hardy  flowers  tended  to  dwarf  the  values  of  indoor- 
grown  Chrysanthemums  and  other  flowers,  there  were  yet  much 
to  be  thankful  for  in  the  favourable  elements  afforded  by  the 
absence  of  frost  so  late  in  the  year.  There  was  a  marked  con¬ 
trast  in  this  flowery  autumn  to  that  of  some  earlier  ones,  that 
of  1892  in  particular  being  visited  by  a  disastrous  frost  about 
the  middle  of  September,  destroying  at  a  .stroke  everything  of  a 
tender  nature. 
Visitors  to  the  late  Bristol  Chrysanthemum  Show  pondered 
over  the  exten.sive  exhibit  of  herbaceous  flowers  staged  by 
Messrs.  House  and  Son,  W^estbury-on-Trym,  with  evident  amaze¬ 
ment,  the  date — November  20 — certainly  in  the  ordinary  course 
of  seasons  being  out  of  touch  with  such  familiar  exhibitions  of 
the  summer  months.  True,  on  the  morning  of  the  show,  there 
were  sufficient  frost  to  put  an  end  to  the  flowers  of  an  extended 
summer.  It  w'as,  however,  not  a  little  i-emarkable  to  find  a  wealth 
of  Dahlia  blooms  so  late  in  November.  Beside  the.se  there  Avere 
large  bunches  of  Pentstemons  in  many  colours,  as  well  as  gorgeous 
Tritomas  aurea  and  uvaria.  These  are  most  effective  in  a  cut 
state  grouped  in  large  vases,  and  not  less  so,  given  conspicuous 
positions  in  borders,  shrubbery,  or  flower. '  Heuchera  hybrida 
is  a  graceful  flower,  that  found  many  admirers;  so,  too,  did 
Centaurea.  glastifolia,  the  miniature  Heleniums,  Rudbeckia. 
hirta.  Hieracium  villosum,  ."carlet  Geums,  Scabiosa  cancasica, 
and  C.  alba  and  Erigeron  speciosa. 
The  Thistle-like  floAvers  of  Eryngium  alpinum  Avere  as  fresh 
in  their  glaucou.s-tinted  heads  as  of  summer,  and  both  striking 
in  name  and  character  Avas  Gypsophila  Rokejeka.  Stevia  ser- 
rata,  a  floAver  resembling  the  greenhouse  Eupatorium  caused 
nquirics  for  its  name;  so  also  did  Phytolrci  decandra.  a  bull- 
rush-shaped  head  of  jet-black  berries.  Astrantia  major  Avas 
also  shown.  The  foregoing  names  will  be  familiar  to  many 
Journal  readers;  to  many  others  they  Avould,  some  of  them, 
be  strangers;  but,  in  any  case,  they  give  unmistakeable  evidence 
of  their  utility  for  autumn  purposes  in  the  border  or  boudoir. 
There  Avere  many  other  exhibits  in  this  great  show  which  iuAmked 
less  enthusiasm. — S.  W. 
