Plant Combinations 31 



{Campanula Carpatica). The bell flow- 

 ers may be planted eighteen inches apart 

 and, in the spring, when the shooting stars 

 are up and in bloom, the foliage of the 

 campanula is hardly in evidence, but dur- 

 ing the summer it occupies all the space 

 between them. 



After flowering, all that part of the 

 shooting star above ground turns brown, 

 dies back and disappears to return again 

 next spring. 



The Virginia bluebell (Mertensia Vir- 

 ginica) is another charming plant of the 

 same habit, and as it is worthy of cultiva- 

 tion in groups, it often becomes a question 

 where to place it so that the bare ground 

 it leaves behind is not an eye-sore. Besides 

 colonies I have established in my ravine, 

 where the overhanging underbrush hides 

 its absence later on, I grow it under large 

 bushes of forsythia. Both bloom at the 

 same time and the pink buds and open 

 blue bells of the Mertensia, when seen 

 through the fleecy mass of the golden bells 



