114 



IRISH GARDENING 



var. Miss Willmott is true, or how it received 

 this name, hut this form Avith its heautiful 

 palhd blossoms of moonlight blue has for ages 

 been growing in small and cottage gardens in 

 this part of Ireland. 



C. pulla is a plant of mystery, described by 

 Robinson and other experts as a " lime hater," 

 there are few of us who did not consequently 

 coddle it up with peat. Quite by accident it 

 found its way, in my garden, into a slope of 

 limestone chips and loam, where it ran about, 

 and has eventually crowded out everything else. 

 Its flowers are dwarf bells of the deepest 

 imperial violet, and it prefers half shade. From 

 correspondence which has appeared in The 



C raddeana does best with me in very stony 

 soil or moraine in full sun, its shii)y heart- 

 shaped leaves are very distinct, and its drooping 

 ])urple bells held aloft on wiry candelabra-like 

 stems, are pretty, but I wish it were more 

 generous with them. 



C Raineri vera is, to my mind, the gem of the 

 dwarf Campanulas. The true ]ilant is difficult 

 to obtain, one is always receiving hybrid forms 

 with tall flower stems. I can imagine nothing 

 more lovely than a patch of this Campanula, its 

 dwarf silvery leaves hardly appearing above the 

 soil, and in the heart of each little rosette there 

 nestles a stemless, enormous pale blue cup. 

 There is a particularly fine patch of this plant 



Campanula pulla in Limestone at Knapton, Abbeyleix. 



Garden it is now recognised as growing on 

 limestone screes in nature, and, personally, I 

 should never bother about giving it anything 

 else, but I have received letters from correspon- 

 dents who have absolutely failed to grow it in 

 limestone. 1 confess 1 cannot account for this 

 failure. The accompanying photo was taken in 

 July, 1913, and the patch of C. pulla Was then 

 about \\ 3^ards across ; it must be considerably 

 more this year. I had a white form once, but 

 lost it. I have still a pale form, termed var. 

 pallida, which is not very attractive. 



C. pulloides is most desirable, flowers much 

 larger and not so deep in colour. It is a 

 hybrid of C pulla, and grows equally well in sun 

 or shade There is a darker form, var. Kewensis, 

 verv^ near in colour to G. F. Wilson,but much finer, 

 an equally desirable plant with taller flower stems. 



in the moraine at Glasnevin. The plant seems 

 to have no fads, and only desires a very stony 

 soil or moraine to run about in and jirotection 

 while making its spring growth from slugs. 



C. Stansfieldi is a beautiful little hybrid with 

 ])ale 3'ellow foliage and ])ale mauve hanging bells. 

 It likes a half shady spot in loose vegetable soil. 



C. stenocodo]! if true must be a dwarf glacier 

 form of C. rotundifolia, and grows serenely in 

 moraine. 



C. Waldsteiniana and C. Tommasiniana both 

 grow Well with me in moraine. Both are compact, 

 deciduous bushes, the latter taller and looser 

 in ever}^ way, and both are exquisitely dainty. 



C. Zoysii, with its quaint soda-water bottle 

 like flowers, is most distinct, it is not difficult, 

 but moody, and whilst some plants prosper, 

 others unaccountably fail. It is a fitting link 



