American Rock Garden Society Bulletin THE LAKE REGION OF THE SOUTHERN ALPS Nino Arietti and Oscar Fervidi 1 THE CHALLENGE OF THE HARDY CYPRIPEDIUMS Shirley B. Harry 8 THE ROCK GARDEN AT NIGHT— William Rawson 10 PLANTS TO KNOW AND GROW 12 JUST FOR FUN—Sallie D. Allen 16 "SCROGGIN ON THE SCREE"—Ian J. Tweedy 20 PLANT HUNTING IN MONGHOLIA—Ing. Vladimir Vasak 22 AN EXCITING HYBRID PINK AND OTHER NOVELTIES Leonard J. Uttal 29 MOUNT WASHINGTON ROCK GARDEN—Robert B. Clark 30 ASCENT OF MT. WASHINGTON—Mrs. A. J. Aikens 33 OMNIUM-GATHERUM 34 Vol. 28 JANUARY, 1970 No. 1 DIRECTORATE BULLETIN Editor Emeritus DR. EDGAR T. WHERRY, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 4, Pa. Editor ALBERT M. SUTTON 9608 26th Ave. N.W., Seattle, Washington 98107 AMERICAN ROCK GARDEN SOCIETY President Emeritus HAROLD EPSTEIN, 5 Forest Court, Larchmont, New York President— BERNARD E. HARKNESS, Box 264, R.D. #1, Pre-emption Rd., Geneva, N.Y. 14456 Secretary RICHARD W. REDFIELD, Box 26, Closter, N.J. 07624 Treasurer _ ALEX D. REID, 260 Boulevard, Mountain Lakes, N. J. Vice-Presidents BRIAN O. MULLIGAN MRS. LEE ARMIGER BOYD KLINE MRS. VIRGINIA HOWIE JOHN S. KISTLER Directors Term Expires 1970 John P. Osborne Walter A. Kolaga Claude A. Barr Term Expires 1971 Mrs. Herbert Brinckerhoff H. Lincoln Foster Lee Raden Term Expires 1972 Mrs. Sallie D. Allen Jerome A. Lukins Henry R. Fuller Director of Seed Exchange MR. HENRY R. FULLER P.O. Box 158, Easton, Connecticut 06425 Director of Slide Collection ELMER C. BALDWIN 400 Tecumseh Road, Syracuse, N.Y. 13224 REGIONAL CHAIRMEN Northwestern ... — CLIFFORD G. LEWIS, 4725 119th Avenue S.E., Bellevue, Wash. 98004 Western F. O. PEARCE, 54 Charles Hill Road, Orinda, Calif. 94563 Midwestern _ MRS. LILLIAN M. LEDDY, BOX 612A, R.D. 3, Mena, Arkansas 71953 Allegheny CARL A. GEHENIO, RD. 3, Box 341 A, Tarentum, Pa. 15084 Potomac RALPH W. BENNETT, 5607 N. 22nd St., Arlington, Va. 22205 Delaware Valley LEE M. RADEN, Chester Springs, Pa. 19425 North Atlantic JOHN P. OSBORNE, 29 Dogwood Lane, Westport, Conn. 06880 New England .... MRS. INGEBORG BARTHO, R.F.D., Center Conway, N. H. 03813 Great Lakes HARRY BUTLER, 1414 Wilmington Ave., Dayton, Ohio 45401 Wisconsin-Illinois ..... DONALD E. HAVENS, 2323 W. Club View Dr., Glendale, Wise. 53209 Published quarterly by the AMERICAN ROCK GARDEN SOCIETY, incorporated under the laws of the State of New Jersey. You are invited to join—annual dues are: Ordinary Member• ship, $5.00; Family Membership, $7.00; Patron Membership, $25.00; Life Membership, $150.00; Overseas Membership, $3.50. The subscription price per year is $4.00. The office of publication is located at P.O. Box 26 (175 High Street), Closter, New Jersey 07624. Address communications regarding membership, dues, and other matters relating to the Society to Richard W. Redfield, Box 26, Closter, N.J. 07624. Address manuscripts and other matters relating to the Bulletin to Albert M. Sutton, 9608 26th Ave., N.W., Seattle, Washington 98107. Second-class postage paid at Closter, New Jersey. AMERICAN ROCK GARDEN SOCIETY BULLETIN Albert M. Sutton, Editor VOL. 28 January, 1970 No. 1 THE LAKE REGION OF THE SOUTHERN ALPS NINO ARIETTI, Brescia, Italy and OSCAR FERVIDI, Monza, Italy Northern Italy is characterized by a wide plain, the "Padania," that, with its 46,000 square kilometers, constitutes the largest plain of Southern Europe. It may be likened to a large, flat triangle, lightly sloping down from west eastward, its shortest side delimited by the Adriatic Sea, and major ones con• verging toward the far sources of the river Po, that sinuously runs along it about in the middle. This triangle is closed north and westward by the great barrier of Alps, southward by the ridge-line of the Apennines which meet along the border in the concave low of the Maritime Alps. GENESIS OF THE SOUTHALPINE LAKES During the Pliocene, when—at the beginning of the Neozoic era—the last orogenic tremors were giving form and continuity to the Alps and Apen• nines, the "Padania" was nothing but the wide, low, and warm gulf of an Adriatic Sea much larger than the present one. But in the Pleistocene, some million years ago, began the event which was to change the aspect of the whole Middle Europe, morphologically and as to its biological order; the glacial era. Four times (the phases, intervalled by reces• sions, known by the names of Gunz, Mindel, Riss, and Wiirm) alpine glaciers overflowed toward the plain, digging in pre-existing tectonic folds and widen• ing their borders, as to form a succession of valleys perpendicular to the Alps. The mass of erosion materials, subsequently transported and spread through thaw waters, slowly filled up the Padan gulf, transforming it into the present plain. But along the festoon of alpine bows, where the valleys opened out, pres• sure of ice had excavated the land to far below sea level, while eroded material had been moved forward and deposited in three or four morainic arches. The basins resulting therefrom were filled by water, and so originated the deep blue Southalpine lakes of that country; rightly praised for the mildness of its climate and the opulence of its vegetation, called Insubria for the name of a Celtic tribe which formerly inhabited it. They are, from west eastward: Lake Maggiore or Verban, lake of Lugano or Ceresio, lake of Como or Lario, lake of Iseo or Sebino, lake of Garda or 1 2 AMERICAN ROCK GARDEN SOCIETY Benaco. They total a volume of about 140 cubic kilometers of water, a figure which gives some measure of its mitigating influence on the climate of neigh• boring regions, in addition to favorable exposures to the sun, and to sheltering from the cold northern winds by the high mountain shield. THE LANDSCAPE OF INSUBRIA One who comes to the Southalpine lakes from Mediterranean lands has the sensation of seeing repeated here their own climatic character and vegetative appearance. The visitor coming from the north is inclined to believe them to be the forerunner of the warm Riviera, not far away. The variety of forms, the brightness of the sky, the wealth of colors, the play of perspectives favored by the wings of a complex orography, impart to the landscape a peculiar charac• ter, episodic in particulars, yet unitary in the whole of its aspects; above all in those of vegetation, which constitute its most expressive frame. We can find in this frame a large representation of species typical of the Mediterranean maquis, here isolated at the foot of the calcareous Southern Alps and without connection with the sea. For this common Mediterranean mark, phytogeo- graphs now indicate the belt of the Southalpine lakes with the term "Floristic district of Insubria." In this climatic and floristic unity some nuances may be observed in the appearances of parks and gardens increasing the natural amenity of the shores. The western lakes (Maggiore, Lugano, and Como) have a temperate, warm climate with higher spring rains favorable to the luxuriant growth of exotic bright-leaved evergreens: Magnolias, Laurels, Rhododendrons, and Azaleas. Natural woods get a mesophile character, and in them predominate Castanea sativa, Taxus baccata, Ilex aquijolium, and Laburnum anagyroides among a multitude of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants with the Mediterranean mark. In the eastern side, on the contrary, the climate tends to be warmly dry with less rain. In fact, only around Garda Lake the Mediterranean flora affirms itself with the holm-oak (Quercus ilex) covering the rocky cliffs of the high lake; with the evergreen foliage of a local autochthonous race of Laurus nobilis; with the aromatic bushes of Rosmarinus officinalis, and the yellow bloom of Spartium junceum, joined by Rhamnus elaternus, Celtis australis, Cercis siliquastrum. Among cultivated plants prevail the sober, silver-haired Olea europea, and the landscape is given a singular character by the white pillar succession of old citrus orchards where Citrus limonia, C. medica, and C. sinensis have been extensively cultivated, whereas bitter Citrus bigaradia is still being planted along the avenues for beauty, and bears fruit. In the gardens of broadleaved plants prevail the Cupressus, the Mediterranean Pinus, Musa, Phoenix, Yucca, together with other exotic plants of hot, dry climates, which often spread spontaneously like Agave americana and Ficus stipuJata. THE INSUBRIC ENDEMITES Richness of species and variety of associations characterize, as already said, the spontaneous Flora of Insubria, and justify the evocation it exerts both on the visitor and on the scholar. But another reason for fascination and interest is given by the presence of a wide number of endemic species, their origin going back to the ancient Flora of Cenozoio. The calcareous AMERICAN ROCK GARDEN SOCIETY 3 Map showing the Floristic District of Insubria Southern Alps, in fact, and particularly the dolomitic chains, during the glacial era were a unique "area of shelter." The aridity of rocky cliffs always caused conditions of life particularly hard for the vegetation so that in the hard struggle for existence the fittest species gained the upper hand, or those having a high degree of adaptability, which allowed them to establish themselves on such barren seats. The steepness of recesses, often sheltered on their upper part by rocky juts, protected them from ice flow. And there the old species, already adapted to rocky life, could survive geological and climatic vicissitudes our mind can hardly imagine. The glacial paroxysm subsided, the surviving species could sometimes occupy lower likely suitable places. But, as if they had exhausted their strength during the millenarian fight and isolation, they lost their capacity to spread, to reproduce out of their hidden recesses. Once modified to their new environmental conditions, isolated from other primitive races, they gave birth to new species with defined and narrow areas, called neoendemisms.