Alpine flowers for gardens : rock, wall, marsh plants, and mountain shrubs / by W. Robinson.

  • Robinson, W. (William), 1838-1935.
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Alpine flowers for gardens : rock, wall, marsh plants, and mountain shrubs / by W. Robinson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    191/378 (page 165)
    ANTIRRHINUM {Snapdragon).— Rock-plants and perennial herbs, mostly hardy and many of them from mountainous regions, but none so popular in gardens as the handsome Snapdragon {A. majus) which, like the Wallflowers, often grows on walls and stony places. Among the many species, some few are seen in cultiva¬ tion from time to time, but they do not take a large place in gardens, among the best being A. Asarina, A. rupestre, glutinosum, and sempervirens, throwing in poor soil and dry spots. It is pro¬ bable there are not a few of these plants of much beauty not yet in cultivation. AQUILEGIA {Columbine).—Alpine or mountain copse perennials, often beautiful in habit, colour, and in form of flower, widely distributed over the northern and mountain regions of Europe, Asia, and America. Among them may be found great variety in colour—white, rose, buff, blue, and purple, and intermediate shades even in the same flower, the American kinds having yellow, scarlet, and delicate shades of blue. Though often taller than most of the plants strictly termed alpine, they are true children of the hills, and the alpine kinds, living in the high bushy places in the Alps and Pyrenees, and North Asian moun¬ tain chains, are among the fairest of all flowers. Climbing the sunny hills of the sierras in California, we meet with a large scarlet Columbine, that has almost the vigour of a Lily, and in the mountains of Utah, and on many others in the Rocky Mountain region, there is the blue Columbine {A. ccerulea), with its long and slender spurs and lovely cool tints. Although many cottage gardens are alive with Columbines in early summer, there is some difficulty in cultivating the rarer alpine kinds. They require to be carefully planted in sandy or gritty though moist ground, and in well- drained ledges in the rock-garden, in half-shady positions or northern exposures. Most wild Columbines, however, fail to form enduring tufts in our gardens, and they must be raised from seed as frequently as good seed can be got. It is the alpine character of the home of many of the Columbines which makes the culture of some of the lovely kinds so difficult, and which causes them to thrive so well in the north of Scotland, while they fail in our ordinary dry garden borders. No plants are more cap¬ ricious ; take, for instance, the charm¬ ing A. glandulosa, grown like a weed at Forres, in Scotland, and so short¬ lived in most gardens. Nor is this an exception; it is characteristic of other alpine kinds. The best soil for them is deep, well-drained, moist loam. It is probable many of the species are biennial, and that it is well to raise them from seed frequently; and to avoid the results of crossing, it is better to get the seed, if we can, from the home of the species. The seeds should be sown early in spring, and the young plants pricked out into pans, or into an old garden-frame, as soon as they are fit to handle, remov¬ ing them early in August to the borders; select a cloudy day for the work, and give them a little shading for a few days. Mr Whittaker, of Mosely, near Derby, has been very successful with both A. glandulosa and the blue variety of A. leptoceras, and he grew them in a thoroughly drained, deep, rich, alluvial soil; the same were the conditions of Mr Grigor’s success. Mr Brockbank speaks hopefully of growing the finer kinds from seed. He says: “I attribute failures to