PLANTS VALUABLE FOR USE IN ROCK GARDENS, IN JAPANESE GARDENS, AND IN WALL CREVICES : Page 329

To one who is in the beginning of this work of selecting plants forrock garden use the impression should not be conveyed that everyplant which is dwarf in its habit of growth is desirable for the rockgarden. Many of these plants are extremely undesirable, such asthe creeping Jenny (lysimackia) and dead nettle (lamium maculatum),mostly because of their tendency to grow rampant and to crowd outand smother many of the more sensitive and more beautiful types ofrock garden plants. These plants are also difficult to eradicate fromthe garden when once they become established. They should neverbe used except in a rock garden on an extensive scale where the tend-ency to spread will not eventually become offensive. In order tomaintain the true rock garden character it is very essential that plantsshould be selected which are in harmony with the spirit of the garden.Many so-called rock gardens are filled with the more common annuals,with sweet williams, phlox, hollyhocks, and even large irises—plantswhich belong to an entirely different type of garden, or which, becauseof their size, are not in keeping with the scale of a minutely detailed rockgarden.