The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California
Rockweler Rockgardens
A six-inch board, bricks laid end to end, or small stones, will hold it neatly in place. Transfer the little seedlings carefully, placing them four to six inches apart each way, according to their size and the length of time they are likely to remain before being transferred to their permanent position in the rock garden or elsewhere. Here, again, the lath screens for shading come into play; supported on a low framework a foot to a foot and a half above the surface, they will protect the little plants from too much sunshine and break the force of beating rains. For some of the plants, such as the thick, woolly-leaved alpines, which are particularly sensitive about coming into contact with moist soil, a little fine gravel can be worked about and between them, after transplanting. What has already been said about watering continues to apply.
PROPAGATING BY DIVISION
Many of the rock plants, like the majority of the perennials in the hardy border, may readily be increased by separating or dividing the old plants or clumps.
But there is this difference: that whereas the border perennials may be immediately replanted in the border where they are to grow, much more certain and satisfactory results are to be obtained with rock plants if the little divisions are given
an incubating period of two to three months where they can become strong, well-rooted plants, almost certain to live wherever one places them. This does not involve much extra work, and instead of losing time, actually saves it, for divisions so treated will be far ahead of those placed immediately in the rock garden, and severely checked, if they do not perish, before they become firmly established.
The divisions may be grown in a bed, but pot plants, obtained as follows, are more satisfactory.
Fill three and a half or four-inch pots with the general soil mixture described on page 43, or with any other which suits the particular variety being propagated, pressing the soil firmly down into place.
Dig out a bed in a sunny well-drained location, six inches deep, three feet or so in width, and sufficiently long to accommodate the number of pots being used. Fill this excavation level full with sifted coal ashes, thrown in loosely, and "plunge" or bury the pots up to their rims, packing the cinders firmly about them.
It is well to separate the plants into two groups, if there are many of the shade lovers among them, so that shade may be provided for these. The entire bed should be shaded by the lattice screens already mentioned for two or three weeks during bright weather.
