IN A DUNEDIN ROCK GARDEN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20870, 9 November 1929, Page 7

IN A DUNEDIN ROCK GARDEN.

The rock garden needs constant attention during the summer if it is to look well. The summer is the season of growth, and it is very necessary that those plants which grow luxuriantly should not be allowed to swamp the slender growing subjects. Where plants are growing vigorously and occupying more than their allotted space, they should be carefully cut back. It will be necessary to pay particular attention to watering during the hot dry summer days. Owing to the artificial nature of the rockery the plants will tend to suffer from lack of moisture, especially as their natural habitat is one of great altitude, and consequently cooler conditions. It is when vc come to plants suitable for the rock garden, that the native flora comes to oyr assistance, for many of the very best rock plants grow in New Zealand. Celmisias are perhaps the most distinct and showy plants of our alpine flora, and are only found in New Zealand, mostly hn the South Island. An early variety and perhaps the most outstanding is C. Verbascifolia. One plant is- at present bearing about three dozen blooms. Although not so graceful in form as the preceding variety. C. Coriacea with its stiff silvery leaves and fine flowers is a beautiful plant. There are several forms of this variety. C. Monroi is another member of the genus now in flower, it is very similar to C. Coriacea. but has a different flower head. Perhaps the most beautiful veronica for the rock garden is V. Lavaudiana. It has a mass of bluish pink flowers, and if allowed to trail over a large stone, it has a charming effect. Other good varieties now blooming arc V. Fair fieldensis and V. Oblonga. For foliage effect V. Spedeni and V. Hunteri arc very useful. Phloxes, like aubretias. have seldom remained so good for such a long period. The day is coming to an end, however, of some of the choicest of their clan, notably Vivid, Douglasii, and Neisonii, a trio of great beauty and charm. The summer month brings the sweetest of all the thymes into bloom. T. N itidus.