IRISH GARDENING 



5 



Zoysii is a minute gem with tiny bright green 

 leaves and amazino; flowers — -long, cannon -shaped 

 with aceordion pleats at the movxth. It is an 

 uncertain plant in cultivation, and I have only 

 two that are really good — one in almost pure 

 limestone moraine, and the other in very gravelly 

 soil, and both have zinc rings round them. It 

 is quite unlike anj^ other Campanula, and 

 charming when well grown. 



Of new Cam])anulas, the most attractive that I 

 have flowered is C. crenulata. From a tuft of 

 narrow green leaves it throws up a spike bearing 

 hanging bells of deep ])urple — deeper, if ])ossible, 

 even than those of C. pulla. When I saw the spike 

 appearing I feared; and, alas! my fears have been 

 realised, for the plant died after flowering and 

 set no fertile seed. This is my one and only 

 experience of this Campanula. Its death after 

 flowering may have been an accident, but I never 

 trust those " spike " Cami)anulas, they are nearly 

 all biennial in tendency, and the worst of it is 

 they are so beautiful that one must grow them 

 again. C. trichopoda and C. Chinensis I have not 

 yet flowered, and I have not seen C. Balfot riana. 

 These are practically all the dwarf Campanula 

 species I have come across up to the present. 

 I forgot C. Morretiana. I flowered it once. A 

 charming wee crevice Campanula, liking a tight 

 crevice and moisture in summer. It disappeared 

 the second winter. I have never since succeeded 

 in importing either seed or soundly rooted plants, 

 but hope to do so some day when its native 

 habitat is out of the W9r zone. 



Of dwarf hybrids pride of i)lace should I think 

 be given to C. pulloides, which in its best foim — 

 var. Kewensis — has all the good points of its 

 l)arent, C pvilla, with added strength and size. 

 Another plant which I received as C. pulloides 

 (and which is ju'obably a seedling form) has 

 wider leaves, dull, instead of bright green, and 

 slightly hairy, with upright, instead of nodding, 

 bells of rather paler hue. I see that Mr. Meredith, 

 in his work on •' Rock Gardens," describes C. 

 pulloides as an inveterate lime-hater. I wonder 

 whether this description is the result of his 

 personal experience or whether he so describes 

 it merely on the strength of its descent from 

 C. pulla, which was for so long and so wrongfully 

 thus described ' For here at any rate C. ])ulloides 

 flourishes equally well in ])eat and limestone. I 

 have yard wide ])atches of it in loam mixed with 

 lime rubble and two nursery beds about 10 feet 

 by 3 in the kitchen garden in ordinary soil th?t 

 has been frequently dressed with lime. In all 

 these soils and situations C. pulloides flowers and 

 grows magnificently. C. G. F. Wilson is of the 

 snme blood, but smaller and paler with me ; not 

 so good a doer. The form with pale yellow foliage 

 I found very miffy indeed, and having lost it 

 several times shall not trouble to replace it again. 

 Possibly the next finest hybrid is C. Stansfieldi, 

 which I think was a natural hybrid between 

 C. Tommasiniana and C. Carpatica ; it has narrow, 

 yellow-green foliage and ]jale mauve ytendulous 

 bells. It is a very desirable plant, and seems to 

 prefer cool exposures in sandy leaf mould and 

 peat. C. Tymonsi, C. Profusion, and C. Haylodg- 

 ensis are all interesting hybrids, and look as if 

 they had C. Rotundifolia blood in them. I have 

 also an interesting cross, C. Carpatica x C. 

 Rotundifolia, which is a very floriferous plant, 

 flowei'ing over a long period, and a tiny C. 

 pusilla X Carpatica, with the habit of the former 

 and small wide cups of the latter. The number 



of Campanula hybrids in cultivatio-n is nut large. 

 C. Carpatica seems ready to cross with any other. 

 C. Rotundifolia is not far behind ; but Cam- 

 panulas, as a whole, do not seem to cross as 

 readily as many other plants. I am very anxious 

 to get a good garganica or muralis cross, but so 

 tar have not succeeded in raising one, and the 

 number of natural crosses is remarkably small. 

 Nearly all Campanulas come true from seed, 

 and can easily be increased by this method, and 

 all, except the taprooted varieties can be readily 

 increased in spring by potting up small under- 

 ground roots. The taprooted species I have so 

 far only attempted to raise from seed, but from 

 the readiness with which their crowns make new 

 growth after slugs have eaten them clean, one is 

 encouraged to hope that they might also be 

 increased by root cuttings, and all being well I 

 shall try some next spring. 



Violet Leaf Spot (Phyllostica Viola, 

 European). 



This is a fungus disease, attacking the leaves of 

 Violet plants, and it will be wise t« take immediate 

 ste]js to check its progress, should it apijear in 

 the garden. 



Appearance of Affected I^faves. — White 

 spots are apparent on both sides of the leaves 

 attacked. These spots are round in shape and 

 have definite margins ; as they run into each other 

 larger blotches are formed, and the entire tissues 

 of the leaf may be destroyed. In the white 

 patches minute l;lack spots are visible to the 

 naked eye, and when examined und?r the micro- 

 scope these are found to be the spore receptacles 

 or perithecia of the fungus from which escape 

 the sporules or conidia, minute bodies, straight 

 and cylindrical in shape, rounded at the ends and 

 colourless. I have seen a bad attack of Violet 

 leaf spot in a Dublin garden this autumn, the 

 varieties Princess of Wales, Madame Schwartz 

 and Luxonne being particularly badly attacked. 

 Tkeatmext of Infected Plants.— At the first 

 sign of disease pick off and bur)! all infected 

 leaves. If left lying about or thrown on the 

 rubbish heap the spores will germinate and spread 

 the disease to hitherto unaffected plants. 



Having been carefully picked over, spray the 

 plants with a solution of sulphide of potassium — 

 about one ounce to three gallons of water. The 

 sulphide should be dissolved in warm water, 

 diluted to its proper strength, and applied through 

 a fine sprayer to both under and upper surfaces 

 of the leaves. The process of picking over and 

 spraying will probably have to be repeated a 

 second or third time, at intervals of a week or 

 ten days. 



In the case of a bad outbreak on plants closely 

 crowded together, the above remedies wiU pro- 

 bably be quite useless to stop the spread of the 

 disease, and the plants should be dug uii and 

 burnt. 



^\^lere Violets have been attacked by this or 

 other fungus disease, they should not be grown 

 at or near the same place the following season, as 

 it must be borne in mind that most fungi 

 parasitic on plants produce " resting spores," 

 which are capable of remaining dormant in the 

 soil until favourable conditions of warmth and 

 moisture and the presence of a suitable host ])lant 

 enable them to germinate and continue their 

 reproductive activities. M. D., Dublin. 



