PART II.] 



ALPINE FLOWERS FOR GARDENS 



185 



summer the plant becomes a prostrate 

 mass of bluish -purple starry flowers with 

 white centres, from 3 inches to 6 inches 

 high ; it is seen best in interstices on 

 vertical parts of the rock-garden, in warm 

 and well-drained spots. The better and 

 deeper the soil the finer and more pro- 

 longed the bloom will be. It is a native 

 of Italy, flowers in summer, and is 

 easily increased by cuttings, divisions, 

 or seeds. 



Campanula hederacea (Ivy Hairbell). 

 A fragile, creeping thing, with almost thread - 

 like branches bearing small, delicate leaves, 

 its flowers of a faint bluish-purple, less than 

 half an inch long, and drooping in the bud. 

 It is a native of Britain, creeping over bare 

 spots by the sides of rills and on moist 

 banks, and wherever there is a moist 

 boggy spot near the rock-garden, or by 

 the side of a streamlet, or in an artificial 

 bog, it will be found worthy of a place. 

 It occurs chiefly in Ireland and Western 

 England ; less in the East. Division. 



C. isophylla (Ligurian Hairbell). A 

 free flowering Italian species, the 

 leaves roundish or heart-shaped, deeply 

 toothed, and nearly all of about the same 

 size, the flowers of a pale but very bright 

 blue, with whitish centre, and protruding 

 styles. It is a charming ornament for the 

 rock-garden, and should be placed in 

 sunny positions in well-drained, rather 

 dry fissures in sandy loam, and then it will 

 repay the cultivator by a brilliant bloom. 



C. macrorrhiza (Ligurian Hairbell). 

 "This is one of the most beautiful of the 

 southern plants, and one of the most free- 

 flowering of the Campanulas. The root- 

 stock is thick and woody ; it throws out 

 a large number of drooping branches ; 

 flowers very numerous, of a fine blue, 

 two to eight in a spreading cluster. ' I 

 can never forget the impression I received 

 on first seeing it in flower in the walls of 

 the small town La Turbie above Monaco. 

 The little flowers were in myriads, 

 brightening up the dismal streets of this 

 decaying place, and giving it life and 

 colour. It must have a vertical position 

 in full sun, and in a fissure of wall or 

 rock, calcareous if possible. It is increased 

 by cuttings, divisions, or seed." H. 

 Correvon (in Garden). 



Campanula mollis. Though the native 

 home of this Bellflower is on the shores of the 

 Mediterranean, it has nevertheless proved 

 hardy in this country. The flowers are of 

 a dark purplish-blue, borne freely during 

 May and June, the plant from 6 inches to 

 8 inches high ; forming a spreading carpet 

 of glossy leaves even at midwinter. It is 

 a very useful kind of free dwarf habit. S. 

 Europe. 



C. muralis (Wall Hairbell). This, a 

 native of Dalmatia, is a pretty and useful 

 plant as a dense carpet, from 6 inches to 

 8 inches high, with a bell-shaped corolla 

 about ^ inch in length, flowering through- 

 out the summer. The radical leaves are 

 reniform, smooth, dark green, and more 

 than 1 inch in diameter ; the cauline 

 leaves smaller, and with coarsely serrated 

 edges. There is also a more robust variety 

 named G. m. major. Syn., C. Porten- 

 schlagiana. 



C. pulla (Violet Hairbell). A. distinct 

 plant, the stems only bearing one 

 flower, of a deep bluish-violet, the 

 habit very graceful. On the rock- 

 garden it should be placed on a 

 level spot, free from other Hairbells or 

 rampant plants of any kind, and in sandy 

 peat. It spreads underground, and sends 

 up shoots in a scattered manner. A native 

 of the Tyrol and of other mountains in 

 Central and Southern Europe, it is in- 

 creased by division or by seeds, but 

 in heavy soil is apt to disappear. 



C. Raineri (Rainer's Hairbell). One of 

 the most beautiful, quite dwarf in habit, 

 the distinct stems not more than 3 inches 

 long (though it is said to reach twice that 

 height), and quite sturdy, branched, each 

 little branch bearing a large somewhat 

 funnel-shaped erect flower of a fine dark 

 blue. A native of high mountains in the 

 North of Italy, it should be grown in 

 gritty or sandy loam, with a few pieces 

 of broken stone half -sunk in the soil near 

 the plant. 



C. rotundifolia (Common Hairbell). 

 There is no fairer flower on the mountains 

 than this, so often adorning roadside and 

 hedge bank. It is well worthy of a place 

 in the rougher part of the rock-garden. 

 There is also a white form. G. r. Hosti 

 is a variety distinguished by larger flowers 



