July, 1919 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



229 



has already met with favor in American gardens. 

 A splendid, stately grower, this plant throws 

 from a luxuriant rosette of dark green foliage a 

 number of erect spikes between three and four 

 feet tall, along which the pure white, full double 

 flowers (reminding one somewhat of a Camellia, 

 though happily without its irritatingly perfect 

 form) are arranged hollyhock-wise. Moerheim's 

 Bellflower is of wonderfully vigorous constitution 

 and absolutely hardy in Massachusetts, where, 

 during an average winter, the mortality among 

 perennials is great. Moreover, it accommodates 

 itself very amiably to location, thriving equally 

 well in sun or shade. It flowers the second, occa- 

 sionally the first, year from seed, about sixty per 

 cent, coming true. The remaining plants pro- 

 duce single flowers of large size and exquisite 

 whiteness, being themselves in every respect an 

 improvement upon the type. 



A beautiful companion is its blue sister, the 

 variety Pfitzeri coerulea plena, from the seed of 

 which I obtained an even larger percentage of 

 full doubles. This double blue Campanula is an 

 improvement upon the older double blue, hu- 

 mosa, which has been several years on the mar- 

 ket. The flowers of Pfitzer's Bellflower I found 

 to be slightly larger than those of Moerheim's 

 and even more double. The color varies from a 

 deep to a lighter blue, the latter shade almost 

 that of the Platycodon. One plant flowered an 

 exquisitely dainty porcelain-blue, while another 

 was the nearest approach to azure that I have 

 seen among the Campanulas. Besides vigorous 

 habit and remarkable symmetry of form, these 

 Bellflowers have the added virtue of being al- 

 most continuous bloomers. Provided seed is not 

 allowed to form, and the plants are well fed and 

 watered, there would seem to be practically no 

 summer limit to their floriferousness, although, 

 as the season advances, the flowers on the old 

 spikes decrease in size and occasionally come semi- 

 double. As an experiment, I cut down all the 

 spikes on a few plants, with the result that by fall 

 these had thrown up fresh spikes, which were 

 finely budded and here and there in flower, 

 when a killing frost took the garden. The green 

 tufts of these Campanulas remained still as fresh as 

 in springtime, but flowers and buds were, of 

 course, discolored. 



Some Elusive Spirits that Are Shy 



"\X7HAT I consider to be a most fortunate 



' » find is aptly named in its Latin form 



(C. mirabilis), "wonderful," a beautiful shade of 



pale blue, with rather 

 light green foliage. This 

 is neither so rapid-grow- 

 ing nor so vigorous as the 

 others, but it certainly 

 deserves its name, being 

 "wonderfully" beautiful. 

 My seeds of this species 

 did not germinate well, 

 and the few plants re- 

 sultant required careful 

 nursing to maintain their 

 hold on life. C. mirabilis 

 is a native of the Cau- 

 casus and is described as 

 forming a low bush two 

 feet in diameter. This 

 description may apply to 

 its later years, but cer- 

 tainly is not true of its 

 second summer. If recol- 

 lection serves me, some 

 foreign catalogues class 

 this as a biennial. An 

 optimist, I refuse to be- 

 lieve that I have seen 

 the last of this gem. 



Another find, which I 

 know would be beauti- 

 ful, if only it would 

 prove itself, is Cam- 

 panula michauxioides, 

 described as a large- 

 flowered, delicate porce- 

 lain blue. It has curi- 

 ous foliage, unlike that 

 of # any Campanula of 

 my acquaintance, a slen- 

 der, delicate habit of 

 growth and a seeming 

 invincible diffidence in 

 showing its face, for I 



have been unable to coax a flower from it, 

 though its hardiness would seem to be established 

 by the fact that it survived, without more pro- 

 tection than a light covering of leaves and 

 manure, the winter of 1913-1914, the most severe 

 winter for many years in New England. The 

 seed germinated fairly well, but I found it hard 

 to pull the baby plants through infancy. To-day 

 they were and to-morrow were not — only a 

 small percentage enteringthe winter. I was accord- 

 ingly very pleasantly surprised to find these still in 

 life when the garden was uncovered in the spring. 



A Bit from the Carpathian Mountains 

 Most poetic is the Carpathian Harebell (Campanula carpatica) adorning and interpreting the grim and rugged places. 



blue and white varieties 



" To What Extremes of Loveliness ! 

 Christened as generously as a royalty, Campanula persicifolia gigantea plena Moerheimi never- 

 theless enjoys the democratic blessing of a vigorous constitution 



Campanula latiloba (or grandis) alba is a tall- 

 growing variety of the Olympian Bellflower with 

 very large pure white bells. In foliage and habit 

 of growth it somewhat resembles the single form 

 of Moerheimi, though the foliage is a lighter green 

 in color. Excepting the Chimney Bellflower 

 (C. pyramidalis), this is the tallest Bellflower 

 I have seen and it has an advantage over C. 

 pyramidalis in producing flowers so much larger 

 that there is practically no comparison. A mass 

 of latiloba alba in flower is one of the most beau- 

 tiful and graceful sights of the summer garden. 

 For beauty, grace, symmetry, and artistic, yet 

 striking effectiveness, I am tempted to accord 

 first place among Campanulas to this truly 

 noble species. Its tall spikes, slender, but 

 strong, with their large snowy bells, almost the 

 size of Canterbury-bells and of more pleasing 

 shape, gently swaying in a light breeze, form one 

 of those unforgettable garden pictures that flash 

 upon the "inward eye" again and again, when 

 the garden itself is a frost-blackened desolation 

 and the ground white with drifting snow. 



Campanula punctata is by no means new, but 

 is so seldom met with in perennial borders and 

 apparently so little appreciated, that I feel it 

 deserves honorable mention and hearty recom- 

 mendation for its beauty, its grace, and its charm- 

 ing adaptability to the "woods" or shady border. 

 If your garden has a little stretch of woodland or, 

 like mine, merely a few trees naturally grouped to 

 suggest such, the Spotted Harebell is a charming 

 subject for associating with Foxgloves, which 

 indeed it somewhat resembles in form and habit, 

 throughout wood or border. Its long, pendulous 

 white or lilac-rose bells, spotted within by tiny 

 crimson specks, and its comparatively dwarf 

 habit — between one and two feet in height — 

 make it especially desirable for foreground plant- 

 ing. Swayed by every passing breeze, these 

 graceful spotted bells nod and swing — and if 

 Foxgloves are, as they say, fairy folk's gloves, 

 these Campanulas must be the fairy folk's bells. 



There are 



