Campanula 
lactiflora 
CAMPANULAS 
HIS effect of Campanula, Alstroemeria, Anthemis sulphurea 
T and Sa/via Horminum was quite accidental, the Campanula 
lactiflora having been placed in a border of the kitchen 
garden to grow for stock. It is one of the most docorative of all 
the Campanulas, so that it is rather a mystery why it is not more 
frequently seen. It grows about five feet high with us, but in 
Scotland I saw plants seven and eight feet—the stems branch 
at the top and produce hundreds of tiny bell shaped flowers of 
an exquisite pale mauve. In that Scotch garden it seeded 
itself profusely, but it never does so here and we find the 
best way to increase it is to take root cuttings in the spring. 
The colour is so delicate that it will blend with almost any 
flower, but it should not be placed in competition with Delphi- 
niums or much of its beauty will disappear. I like to see it 
against white Cluster Roses, or with Crambe Cordifolia against 
the purple Prunus, and best of all with the gold and orange 
tones of Alstroemeria, against a background of Bamboo or the 
dark tones of some of the Echinops. It is sometimes forgotten 
how invaluable a clump of green may be to rest the eye and 
detach one brilliant group from another, and how many hand- 
some plants there are, either purely foliage or flowering at a 
later time, which could be used for this purpose in the borders. 
These Alstroemerias are difficult plants to introduce as 
part of some colour scheme, as they resent being disturbed, and 
gardeners need to make up their minds once for all where they 
are to grow. ‘They like a warm dry soil, good drainage, and 
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