ALPINE POPULARITY.
The great success of the new Alpine Garden Society (Hole Sec., 11, Montagu Gardens, Wallington, Surrey) is an expres- sion of the increased vitality of this form of gardening, which lends itself supremely to those whose scope is small, especially in suburban plots. There are some who seek abiding satis- faction through months of the year from some old stone-sink converted into the moraine of a glacier—an exaggeration almost of a Japanese garden. Most of the best Alpine plants are early, and, generally speaking, the garden which " cito dat, bis dat " : we get double satisfaction out of flowers in spring. Yet perhaps too many Alpinists forget how lovely some of the rather later flowers may be. One of the greatest of garden critics, Mr. Clutton Brock, used to say that the best of all was Lithospermum Prostratum : and both the light and dark blue sorts should be grown. The liveliest of all my recollections of a visit to the Western Pyrenees is of Lithospermum and Cistus flowering cheek by jowl. May we not have a potted example of the Pyrenees in the smallest garden ? The secrets of the culture of Lithospermum are avoidance of lime and plenty of room for long roots behind moisture-preserving stones: * * * *
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