IRISH GARDENING 



183 



Another rosette-forming Campanula is C. ]Mira- 

 bilis, with Saxifrage-Hke rosettes of bright green 

 leaves and trailing stems bearing erect China blue 

 cups : it is a biennial, but sets i)lenty of seed, 

 whicli germinates readily. C. planiflora or C. 

 nitida makt-s compact very dark green rosettes, 

 with tall tiower stems, upon which ai)pear, rather 

 sparsely, almost flat, dark blue flowers ; it is very 

 distinct, and hails, I believe, from N. America and 

 seems to ap])re- 

 ciate sandy 

 ])eat; it increases 

 slowly, and has 

 white and 

 double forms. 



I am not quite 

 sure about those 

 delightful geiii., 

 C. Tommasini- 

 ana and C. Wald- 

 steiniana ; as we 

 grow them, the 

 former has 

 narrow, erect, 

 yellow - green 

 foliage about 

 four inches high 

 and t u b VI 1 a r 

 drooj)ing lilac 

 flowers ; the lat- 

 ter similar, but 

 narr<iwer foliage 

 of a grey-green 

 hue and erect 

 s t a r - s h a 1 ) e d 

 flowers of a 

 d e e p e r t o n e : 

 both are decidu- 

 ous, and should 

 be divided fre- 

 c^uently (in early 

 spring)'; butCor- 

 r e V o n makes 

 these names sy- 

 nonymous, and 

 sends out C. 

 Waldsteiniana 

 as C. flexuosa 

 (under the latter 

 name I have 

 received a miffy 

 Eastern biennial 

 not far from 

 C. rupestris). 

 Whatever their 

 true names may 

 be they are gems 

 of the first wa- 

 ter, perfectly pe- 

 rennial and easy 

 in open stony soil, and should be included in every 

 collection. 



C. crispa is new to me, and has not as yet 

 flowered ; its foliage is not unlike that of a dull 

 C. muralis springing up from a tajjroot : it is said 

 to bear lilac flowers, and seems to prefer a rock 

 chink. Other novelties which I had and lost 

 were — C. hypopolia, with curious grass-like 

 foliage, and C. dasycari)a, a dwarf .la])anese gem. 

 I also got seed of C. colora.ta, which, if true, was 

 an erect plant, with hairy stems and ff)liage and 

 small lilac flowers not far from C. rotundifolia ; 

 it i)roved only biennial here, ))ut I see a few self- 

 sown seedlings api)earing ; it is not a particularly 



Misti-ktop: fii! 



attractive ])lant. C Allioni is a gem — a true 

 moraine plant, said to be a lime hater, but 

 perfectly hai)py here in limestone moraine : it is 

 quite possible that it may grow even more readily 

 in granite chips. I cannot say, as granite is 

 uuuhtaiiialile here. It forms a taproot from 

 whicli radiate underground stolons forming flat 

 rosettes from each of which arises a large, almost 

 stemless, upturned Ixdl : there appear to be 



several forms of 

 C. Allioni differ- 

 ing in the width 

 of their foliage 

 and size and 

 colour of their 

 bells. I have 

 never seen the 

 white form, 

 which is ex- 

 tremely rare. It 

 is better to plant 

 this Campanula 

 in siiring as it is 

 not everj-Avhere 

 an easv ])lant 

 to liring through 

 f>ur wet winters, 

 and as an ex- 

 tra precaution I 

 yearly jjlace a 

 sheet of glass 

 over it to throw 

 off the winter 

 rain. C. Cenisia, 

 another true 

 moraine plant, 

 with distinct, al- 

 most steel-blue 

 flowers, I find 

 the most diffi- 

 cult of all Cam- 

 p a n u 1 a s. Mr. 

 Farrer, in one of 

 his early books, 

 spoke of yard- 

 wide patches in 

 his moraine. I 

 have rarely seen 

 it in cultivation 

 ataU, have never 

 seen robust 

 ] )lants of it, and 

 have never suc- 

 ceeded in estab- 

 lishing it myself, 

 although I have 

 tried it every 

 year in varying 

 moraine mix- 

 tures. C. lanata, 

 or velutina (are they really synonymous ? I see 

 Correvon catalogues them separately), though 

 biennial, as a rule, is well worth growmg, and 

 comes very readilv from seed ; it loves the 

 hottest rock chink' one can give it and, when 

 strong enough, its beautiful blue sflver sdky 

 rosettes send up an eight to fifteen inch radiating 

 liyramid of soft pink or yellow-white bells (like 

 Canterbury Bells) ; with me it invariably dies 

 after flowering, but I saw a plant at :\Iucklagh 

 (The O'Mahonv's Lodge in Co.Wicklow) two years 

 ago growing on a wall which from the number 

 of its basal rcjsettes must have been several 

 years old. 



)wixg ox ^erci'i.rs flava in the botani 

 Gardens, Glasnevin. 



