VARIOUS BELL-FLOWERS 227 



assert that this hindering does no more than 

 cause a temporary delay, or rest. It is a point 

 scarcely worth contesting. An alternative old 

 country name is stay-plough. 



No rock-garden can afford to ignore the charm 

 that a liberal sprinkling of bell-flowers imparts. 

 The species of campanula available are very 

 numerous and vary in colour from pure white to 

 pale or dark blue, lilac or deep purple, but are ever 

 graceful and desirable. If we limit ourselves to 

 British species what can possibly be more charm- 

 ing than a tuft of Campanula rotundifolia, the 

 graceful harebell ? The clustered bell-flower, C. 

 glomerata, with its mass of terminal flowers, or 

 the creeping bell-flower, C. rapunculoides, with its 

 long line of pendent flowers, are equally desirable 

 denizens of one's garden, while the graceful little 

 ivy-leaved campanula, C. hederacea, is especially 

 charming. The harebell and the clustered bell- 

 flower are at home on dry hill pasturage and 

 roadside banks ; the creeping bell-flower prefers 

 a damper and shadier situation, while the ivy- 

 leaved campanula asks for yet greater moisture, 

 and if we would grow these various plants 

 successfully these preferences of theirs must be 

 carefully considered. 



We recall with a shudder how our gardener once 

 pointed to our noble tufts of harebells and remarked, 

 "I've often wondered nobody has ever thought of 



