Alpine garden

“ If we think of the changes in gardening terms which have occurred during the last quarter of a century, there is surely significance in the gradual transition from the Rock Garden or Alpine Garden into the more imposing Rock Garden of our present-day language. It points to the bolder grouping—now happily adopted in most good gardens and more in accordance with Nature's pattern—which includes evergreen and flowering shrubs as well as the close-growing alpine plants, gem-like in their brilliant colours, which in earlier days were alone considered suitable for the purpose. ”

“ The alpine wild-flower garden on Mount Rainier is one of the most striking on the globe. Just above the timber-line and below and among the glaciers, colored flowers grow in tall and crowded luxuriance. They color broken distances for miles. It is doubtful if the world can show another hanging garden in which wild flowers so splendidly mingle their lovely hues with the broken picturesque forests, wild crags, and the grandeur of glaciers. ”

“ Yet, like the Arctic plants, they have rich, deep, and brilliant colours.
A queer point is that they have got so accustomed to this stormy and perilous existence that it is extremely difficult to grow them in a garden. Like mountaineers, they dwindle and pine away in the richer soil and softer air of the low grounds.
To make an Alpine garden, rocks and stones must be arranged with pockets and hollows, like natural crevices and basins, between them. Rich leaf-mould must be placed in these hollows. There must be good drainage, and as much sunlight as one can possibly get. ”

“ One readily believes that, in order to cultivate these mountain plants, big surroundings are necessary: a great collection of rocks, as in the giant Alpine garden of Friar Park. We have proved in our garden of Floraire—where the public is willingly admitted, and which flower-lovers are invited to visit—that mountain plants can be cultivated without rockwork, and that it is even important, if one wishes to give an artistic and natural aspect to the garden, not to be too prodigal of rock and stone. ”

“ Rocks, grey and lichen-flecked, crop up from it here and there—rocks hurled in some past fury from the heights above or borne from afar upon the breast of some ancient glacier; for an Alpine field, more often than not, is a delightful combination of rockwork and pasture. Hence there is accommodation for a much [Pg 169] wider range of plant-life than in a meadow run upon English lines, and the season of interest is, therefore, as long-lived as that of any part of our garden. ”

“ Rock-garden plants are those of cool woods, of bogs, and particularly of high mountains and alpine regions. It is generally understood that a rock-garden is an alpine-garden, although this is not necessarily so.
In this country alpine-gardening is little known, largely because of our hot dry summers and falls. But if one has a rather cool exposure and an unfailing water supply, he may succeed fairly well with many of the alpines, or at least with the semi-alpines. ”

“ I believe that the value of the fields, in the economy of Alpine plant-life, has only to be placed earnestly before conscientious gardeners and lovers of flowers for it to meet with immediate and becoming diligence. I believe it will be seen that a rockwork is not the first, last, and only home we may make for Alpines in England, and that it is as unlovely as it is unjust to tar all of them with one and the same brush and think that, because they are called Alpines, they must necessarily be given a perch dominating the rest of the garden. ”

“ Alpine plants, though small to look at, are for the most part tolerably dear to buy. If a man, “whatever his sex!” loves his alpines, is determined to have them, has a fairly big alpine garden or border to fill, but will not be at the trouble of rearing them from seed, then I shall be rather sorry for that man’s pocket. ”

“ Most of the alpines are low and often tufted plants, and bloom in a spring temperature. In our long hot seasons, the alpine-garden may be expected to be dormant during much of the summer, unless other rock-loving plants are colonized in it. Alpine plants are of many kinds. They are specially to be found in the genera arenaria, silene, diapensia, primula, saxifraga, arabis, aubrietia, veronica, campanula, gentiana. They comprise a good number of ferns and many little heaths.
A good rock-garden of any kind does not have the stones piled merely on the surface ”

“ Much has been written about the beauty of the Alpine Garden between the base of the summit cone of Washington and the head wall of Huntington Ravine. All that has been said of this and more is true of the rough rocks, the slopes, and the meadows about the two little Lakes of the Clouds. Traces of animal life indeed are rare on their borders. The most that I have seen was a deer that came at dawn over the ridge from Oakes Gulf, nibbled grass and moss in the - 188 - meadows, drank from the larger lake, and bounded off again, leaving the tundra moss punctured by slender hoof marks. ”

“ A few hints on its construction—Aspect and soil—A list of Alpines—Other suitable plants.
A well-constructed rockery filled with a good selection of Alpine plants is a never-failing delight to anyone fond of a garden. Yet how rare a thing it is! most of the erections one sees are mere apologies for the real thing. The truth is not one gardener in a hundred knows how to make a rockery, though he does not like to say so! An artistic mind is needed to construct one that will be pleasing to the eye, besides a knowledge of draining, water-supply, and so forth. ”

“ These alpine gardens, held close in the curved arms of the hills, or set like jewels on the bare breast of the stone bastions, are one of the great marvels wrought by Nature in the recesses of the Western mountains, the contrast between the beauty of the blossoms and their barren surroundings being as vivid as it is enchanting. ”

“ Scarcely less important is the choice of a site, for if the rock-garden is placed under the drip of trees it is hopeless to expect that any of the more delicate and beautiful Alpine plants can thrive. ”

“ And since then I am unable to conceive that there was ever a time when the Alpine garden at Friar Park had not its setting of Alpine fields. There was no idea of making such a thing when the garden was begun; but once the rockwork was finished the rest imposed itself. One needs the flower-filled field, l’alpe en fête, by the side of the grey rocks.
This is why, in our horticultural establishment at Floraire, we make constant efforts to reproduce expanses of Narcissi, Columbines, Gentians, Daphnes, Primulas, etc., grouped in masses as we have seen them in nature, and as Mr. ”

“ In the rich alpine gardens and meadows they find abundance of food, venturing sometimes well down in the prairie openings on the edge of the timberline, but holding themselves ever alert and watchful, ready to flee to their highland castles at the faintest alarm. ”

“ All nature is dressed in its brightest robes. Great belts of blue gentian hang like a zone on the mountain slopes; masses of yellow globe-flower star the upland pastures; nodding heads of soldanella lurk low among the rugged boulders by the glacier's side. No lowland blossoms have such vividness of colouring, or grow in such conspicuous patches. To strike the eye from afar, to attract and allure at a distance, is the great aim and end in life of the Alpine flora.
Now, why are Alpine plants so anxious to be seen of men and angels? ”

“ The suns that go to make one speedwell blue.”
To us a tiny chalet is quite well placed amid stupendous cliffs and huge, tumbled boulders, and is fit example to follow, if only we are able to do so. In Alpine gardening we feel no need to study the size of our rocks in relation to our summer-house, or place them so that they express some high philosophic or mystic principle. ”

“ On the summit of Long's Peak, nearly three miles up, in a number of places I have seen bright primroses and polemonium, blue mertensia and lavender-colored phlox. There are ragged wild gardens of alpine flowers nearly thirteen thousand feet above the sea. More than one hundred varieties of flowers brighten the ledges of the cliffs, [Pg 182] fringe the snow-piles, and color the moorlands of the heights above the limits of tree growth. The alpine blooms that live in dry or wind-swept places are dwarfed and flattened. They keep their beauty close to the earth. ”

“ The chief difficulty in growing Alpine plants in our climate is not the cold but the excessive moisture of winter, which tends to rot their roots, and from which they are protected in their native home by their snowy covering. Our object should be to reproduce, as far as possible, in our gardens the conditions under which the plants grow in the high Alps. For the rockery a porous stone will be required, such as limestone or sandstone, and it is essential to select a kind that does not crumble with the frost. ”

“ Between the lofty peaks which rise skyward into the very vault of heaven, as it seems to the wayfarer at their feet, stretch lovely, winding Alpine valleys, often well-wooded and with turf of a most delightful greenness strewn with myriads of Alpine blossoms. Through valleys sweet with the odours of pinewoods and flowers run rushing torrents or more quietly flowing streams, which often have their origin in tiny, dark-blue Alpine lakes set amid environing pine forests, in whose tranquil waters are reflected the towering rocks and secluded woods which surround them. ”

“ But it is in connection with their flowers that the wonderful adaptation of Alpine plants to their surroundings is perhaps best seen. The plants of high altitudes generally bear more numerous and more brightly coloured flowers than do their relatives of the plains. The low stature of the plants that bear them gives rise to the impression that the flowers of the Alps are also larger than those of lowland districts, but though undoubtedly more numerous and more crowded together they are of about the same size as those of other nearly related species. ”

“ If it is not possible to transplant to the plains [Pg 161] the clean, invigorating air which goes so far to form the joy exhaled of Alpine meadows; if we may not lay on the wonderful atmosphere of the Alps as we may the ozone from the seaside,—we can at least take the flowers, those brilliant children of the Alpine ether, and thus help materially towards mountain purity in our parks and gardens. Some of the gaiety might be lost in the process—some of that intensity of colouring which steals over the very grass as it climbs the mountain-side and encroaches upon the kingdom of the Rhododendron. ”

“ The nearness to the snow has certainly an effect in enhancing the charm of these Alpine meadows. The flowers, wearing the colours of the sun, rush bravely to the very edge of the snow-fields as though they were jostling the winter aside. The white has barely disappeared before there is green and gold and red to give cheerful greeting to the spring sky, and declare another foot of territory won from the frost. ”

“ It is here that the characteristic vegetation of the Alps is developed in its Alpine region.full beauty and variety. Shrubs are not wanting. Three species of rhododendron vie with each other in the brilliancy of their masses of red or pink flowers; the common juniper rises higher still, along with three species of bilberry; and several dwarf willows attain nearly to the utmost limit of vegetation. The upper limit of this region coincides with the so-called limit of perpetual snow.
On the higher parts of lofty mountains more snow falls in each year than is melted on the spot. ”

“ The alpine meadows and park-lands, as well as the open mountain slopes of the valley, are throughout the spring and summer decked with a gorgeous array of flowers of varied hues which, in places, are so profuse and brilliant that it seems as though nature had spread a carpet of rainbow colours for the delight and wonder of her visitors. ”

“ What do I call an alpine plant? Why, one that has its habitat above the limit of trees—mainly—though it may run down lower along streams. But in a dry region, where forest has no fair chance, we might need to mend the definition.
Upon your paper, I got a few notes—offhand, by references.
I premise that in New England we have two places where several alpine plants are stranded at lower levels than they ought, peculiar conditions of configuration and shelter having preserved them, while the exposed higher grounds have lost them. They are Willoughby Mountain and the Notch of Mt. ”

“ During at least half of the year owing to the white coverlet of snow, all activity in the Alpine plant world ceases so that the production of flowers and seeds, indeed all the vital processes of the plants must be crowded into the few months when the ground is clear. ”

“ The stronghold of this last, the distinctively “Alpine” flora, is the region above the tree-limit. Its closest relationship is with the flora of the Pyrenees; but an alpine flora is characteristic of all the lofty mountains of central Europe. According to J. Ball, 2010 well-marked species of flowering plants occur within the limits of the Alps. ”

“ The little narrow alpine bridges, occasionally thrown across this terrific stream, were highly romantic and beautiful. At this particular spot, dark forests of pine began to succeed to the more pleasing verdure of the tufted beech. They extended to the remotest pinnacles of the mountains, from whose brown sides, lower down, a number of sparkling springs were seen to gush dancing and flashing in the sun. Great quantities of barberry trees, and of the plant coltsfoot, were growing wild here. ”