56 WALL AND WATER GARDENS 



steps than is desirable. The sentiment conveyed by a 

 shallow flight is one of welcome and easy access, and 

 it is best that no plants should be allowed to invade 

 the middle space, or at any rate none so large that 

 they rise to the height of a single step. But the 

 presence of such plants gives a keen delight to the 

 flower lover, even though his sympathies with archi- 

 tecture may tell him that for plants to be in such 

 a place is technically wrong. This picture calls to 

 mind the story of how the common Harebell {Cam- 

 panula rotmidifolia^ is said to have come by the 

 specific name that seems so little descriptive of the 

 very narrow leaves of the flower-stalks, though the 

 less noticeable root leaves are roundish. It is said that 

 Linnaeus observed it as a little round-leaved plant, 

 growing in the joints of the steps of the University 

 of Upsala, and named it from its rounded foliage of 

 winter and spring. 



The Ivy-leaved Toadflax is a charming plant in the 

 joints of steps, and so are some of the smaller Cam- 

 panulas, such as ccespitosa and pusilla, and even some 

 rather larger kinds, as turbinata and carpatica. 



In the other example of weed and grass-grown 

 steps, the overgrowth needs restraining and regulat- 

 ing. The lowest of the six steps badly wants the 

 shears, and the invasion of the small-leaved Ivy, which 

 would be desirable if not quite so thick, is also com- 

 plicated and made to look untidy by many tufts of 

 grass that would be much better away. 



The Scotch walled garden, with its fine row of 



