ROCK- GARDEN PLANTS. Whilst there are plenty of rock-garden plants, alpines that bloom and look good at other times of the year, spring is the period of greatest floral interest. Most are mountain dwellers that may have been covered with snow for months and have to run through their annual cycle of flowering, growing and seeding before the early return of winter conditions. They are plants in a hurry, and as soon as the snow and ice retreats they rush into bright bloom. These plants are primarily suited to the rock garden or bed, but can also be used in the border. Trying to create a natural-looking rock garden in a space dominated by buildings and other artificial garden features can be difficult; a rockery bed can fit into the general design much more easily and be far simpler to work and maintain. Rockery beds have many advantages. The plants are not so far down and can be reached from the sides. Accessibility can be a boon to less active gardeners. The beds can provide ideal conditions for a wide range of alpines. Paving or other good, safe standing ground can surround the structure. The growing media can be regulated more easily. Drainage is easily provided. The walls themselves will provide a variety of different planting sites. Without the need to invest in large pieces of rock, the cost will be much less than for a rock garden. Maintenance will be easier than with a rock garden. Smaller plants can be seen and appreciated very much better. DESIGN AND MATERIALS. A bed may lack the sculptural feel of a rock garden but can still be very attractive. The walls should be pleasing to the eye, and plants growing in them and spilling over from the tops will banish any feeling of harshness. The walls can act almost like a frame around a picture. Various materials can be used to build the walls of a rockery bed. Layers of rock will look good, but bricks, tree branches, logs or peatblocks will all work well. Your choice will depend on what is available and what will look right in your garden. Do not dismiss the idea of railway sleepers, either; you will have the wall built in a trice, and with plants clambering over them they can look really good. Whilst a rectangle is the obvious shape, with the width no greater than the distance you can reach comfortably from the sides (perhaps 2 m (6ft) an L-shaped form may also fit in well. Normally the bed will be of a uniform height all over, but it could be built against a bank-side or an existing wall, when the top could slope. A level topped bed can be modified to include two or more levels as a terraced effect, with extra walls constructed from bricks or rocks. A rockery bed cannot be anything but an artificial construction, but it looks better and the plants more at home with some rocks placed in the top.
When I lived in London and was living around the Tower Hill area, where there were a lot of traffic lights, pedestrian crossings. It was the height of summer and I was wearing a skirt. I suddenly realised that something was getting caught up in my ankles. When I looked down there was my white underskirt in all its glory flapping around my legs. I calmly stepped out of it picked it up and put it in my handbag and carried on as if nothing had happened. All in the middle of rush hour London traffic! READERS LETTER Dear Editor
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