ROCK GARDENS

Rock Gardens Overview - 13

Many plants that have proved failures in the rock garden proper will, on trans-plantation to the moraine, flourish. The inhabitants of the moraine are not so rampant as many alpines grown in the rock garden proper, but for all that, the more vigorous should be kept in check. A light top-dressing of loam and leaf-mould, with an equal part of stone chips (1 to 1.5 inch) will be required in spring and again in early autumn. Plants whose leaves are covered with fluff or down are, when in their natural haunts, usually protected from damp during the winter by a coat of snow. When they are grown out of doors in this country, they must, therefore, be given a covering of glass during the winter months: that is, from the middle of October to the beginning of March. When the plant is a small one nestling in a crevice between the rocks, it is often possible to cover it with a sheet of glass resting on the surrounding rocks; but when this cannot be done, four pieces of stiff galvanized wire should be inserted firmly in the ground and bent over at the top to hold the glass plate securely in position over the plant. If the weather is especially severe or the plant very delicate, four additional pieces of glass may be set in the soil and supported by the wires so as to form four walls protecting the plant. Sufficient space between the glass roof and the tops of the four walls should be left for adequate ventilation (but not enough to admit the rain or snow) or the plants will be liable to damp-off. Hand-lights and bell-glasses may also be used, but in all cases adequate ventilation should be provided. The frost will often raise the plants from the soil, especially those planted the previous summer. In spring, therefore, each plant should be carefully scrutinized, and, if necessary, gently pressed down into the soil. Dead leaves must be removed from around the plants, and a top-dressing of fine chippings inch to dust with a little leaf-mould should be sifted round. and close up to the crowns. All through the summer months the rock garden must be periodically weeded and all dead flower heads should be cut away. Water the choicer species during dry spells, even in spring if very dry, and in May top-dress with a thin layer of gritty loam and leaf-mould to which a little well-decayed cow-dung has been added. By July most of the plants will have borne the best of their bloom, and many of the most vigorous, such as Arabis and Aubrieta for example will now be pushing forth new growth, and will commence to overcrowd the less rampageous inmates of the rock garden.

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