6

THE WORK OF CONSTRUCTION 13

PLANTING THE GARDEN 24

PLANTS FOR A ROCK GARDEN 32

THE WALL GARDEN 45

WATER AND BOG GARDENS 50

THE ILLUSTRATIONS

AN OUTCROPPING BOULDER CONVERTED _Frontispiece_
INTO A ROCK GARDEN
FACING
PAGE

A FLIGHT OF STEPS THROUGH ROCK WORK 8

AN EXAMPLE OF GOOD ROCK GARDENING 16

A SMALL BIT OF ROCK WORK WHERE TWO PATHS DIVERGE 26

FOAM FLOWER AND ONE OF THE SMALLER FERNS 34

THE ROCK GARDEN BUILT ALONG A MAIN CURVING PATH 42

A WALL GARDEN PLANTED IN COLONIES 46

A FOUNTAIN IN A WALL GARDEN 50

MAKING A
ROCK GARDEN

Making a Rock Garden

THE ROCK GARDEN

In Europe, particularly in England, the rock garden is an established
institution with a distinct following. The English works on the subject
alone form a considerable bibliography.

On this side of the Atlantic, the rock garden is so little understood
that it is an almost unconsidered factor in the beautifying of the home
grounds. There are a few notable rock gardens in this country, all on
large estates, and in more instances some excellent work has been done
on a smaller and less complicated scale either by actual creation or by
taking advantage of natural opportunities. But for the most part
America has confined its rock garden vision principally to the so-called
"rockery."

Now a rockery, with all the good intentions lying behind it, is not a
rock garden. It is no more a rock garden than a line of cedars planted
in an exact circle would be a wood. A rockery is generally a lot of
stones stuck in a pile of soil or, worse yet, a circular array of stones
filled in with soil.

A rock garden, above all else, is not artificial; at least, so far as
appearance goes. It is a garden with rocks. The rocks may be few or
many, they may have been disposed by nature or the hand of man; but
always the effect is naturalistic, if not actually natural. The rock
garden's one and only creed is nature.

Rock gardens are of so many legitimate--in other words, natural--types,
that there is not the slightest excuse for