There are many hundred species of mountain and rock plants which will thrive much better on an old wall, a ruin, a sunk fence, a sloping bank of stone, with earth behind, than they do in the most carefully prepared border, and therefore their culture may be fittingly considered here, particularly, as once established in such positions they increase and take care of themselves unaided. Indeed, many an alpine¹ plant which may have perished in its place in the garden, would thrive on any old wall near at hand, as, for example, the pretty Pyrenean Erinus, the silvery Saxifrages of the Alps, pinks like the Cheddar Pink, established on the walls[89] at Oxford², many Stonecrops and allied³ plants, the Aubrietia and Arabis.  
A most interesting example of wall gardening is shown on the opposite page. In the gardens at Great Tew, in Oxfordshire, this exquisite⁴ little alpine plant, which usually roots over the moist surface of stones, established itself high up on a wall in a small recess⁵, where half a brick had been displaced. The illustration tells the rest. It is suggestive, as so many things are, of the numerous plants that may be grown on walls and such unpromising surfaces.
 
 
A mossy old wall, or an old ruin, would afford a position for many rock–plants which no specially⁶ prepared situation could rival; but even on well–preserved walls we can establish some little beauties, which year after year will abundantly repay for the slight trouble of planting or sowing them. Those who have observed how dwarf⁷ plants grow on the tops of mountains, or on elevated stony⁸ ground, must have seen in what unpromising positions many flourish in perfect health—fine tufts sometimes springing from an[90] almost imperceptible chink in an arid⁹ rock or boulder¹⁰. They are often stunted¹¹ and

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