CAMPANULAS 37 



although there are soft-pink Canterbury-bells and 

 white varieties, either natural or garden, of many 

 species. In some cases the florists have enlarged their 

 flowers, in one or two they have doubled them; they 

 have also produced a certain number of hybrids, but 

 even among the hybrids as many have come by ac- 

 cident as by design. But all these are only exceptions; 

 most campanulas are as Nature has made them; and 

 she has produced few flowers with more character and 

 beauty. For garden purposes it is convenient to 

 divide campanulas into classes, the tall kinds of the 

 lowland and the low-growing mountain species, while 

 there are a certain number of intermediate kinds, such 

 as our own English harebells and Campanula car- 

 patica. The taller kinds, naturally, are best suited 

 for the border, and the mountain species for the rock- 

 garden; although several of the latter are so easily 

 grown that they make excellent plants for the front 

 of the border. Most of the border campanulas are 

 woodland or half woodland plants, and, therefore, 

 they like a cool or a shady place, except in a very stiff 

 soil. They are nearly all easily grown, but they pre- 

 fer a rich soil, and many of them will not reveal their 

 full beauty without it. The best known of all cam- 

 panulas is the Canterbury-bell (C. medium), of which 

 it is scarcely necessary to speak except to say that 

 the double and cup and saucer varieties are not nearly 

 so beautiful as those with flowers of a natural and 

 simple form. Two other species are almost as com- 

 mon and, being perennials, are even more useful than 



