The Fun of Collecting Bellflowers — By wilhelm Miller, 



A FASCINATING GROUP WHICH INCLUDES THE HAREBELL, CANTERBURY BELLS, 

 STEEPLE BELLFLOWER, COVENTRY BELLS, AND OTHER FAMOUS FLOWERS 



New 

 York 



ALMOST every month I get a letter 

 like this: "Send me the names of 

 all the nurserymen who offer campanulas. 

 I want every species that grows in the 

 whole world!" I can sympathize with 

 this passion, for I once ordered every 

 kind of Campanula catalogued by the 

 biggest dealer in Europe. But in my 

 humble opinion the genus is considerably 

 over-rated. It is one of those gentle 

 ironies of gardening that the plants be- 

 ginners most yearn for generally turn out 

 to be unsatisfactory. My friend Mr. 

 Whyte, of Ottawa, has grown nearly every 

 species and has discarded all but two or 

 three. The sad truth is that many of the 

 bellflowers look shabby or weedy after 

 blooming. Moreover the most exquisite 

 kinds require special care, for the most 

 popular kinds must be grown from 

 seed every year, the loveliest trailers 

 need a greenhouse, and the dwarfs, which 

 make such enchanting carpets, require 

 rock garden conditions, since they are 

 easily overrun and smothered by coarse 

 perennials like phlox and chrysanthemums. 



But, pshaw! What beginner was ever 

 discouraged by an expert! The "fun" 

 of collecting is that you always find some 

 precious beauty, of which there is no 

 hint in the books, that amply repays you 

 for all the time and trouble. 



I have never seen an article that ex- 

 plained the human interest in the com- 

 monest bellflowers. Also we greatly need 

 a better guide to the whole group than the 

 one I wrote for Bailey's "Cyclopedia of 

 American Horticulture" in 1900. For 

 there are over one hundred names now to 

 be accounted for — enough to bewilder 

 any beginner and waste even an expert's 

 money. Therefore, I shall try only to 

 give a new classification which any be- 

 ginner can grasp, and mention the most 

 important improvements that have been 

 made since 1900. 



THE ANNUAL BELLFLOWERS 



Let us begin with the kinds that must 

 be sown every year. Of these, the most 

 extraordinary is the big-styled bellflower 

 {Campanula macrostyla), see No. 9), 

 which is famous for its excessively long 

 pistil, having stigmas an inch or more 

 long. It is the only species having a style 

 that sticks far out of the flower, and it 

 is brown and spindle-shaped before opening. 

 It has a purple flower two inches or more 

 in diameter, and is as beautiful as it is won- 

 derful. The plant grows a foot or two high. 



Another annual which has come in since 

 my time is C. Loreyi. 



THE BIENNIAL BELI.KLOWEBS 



The most popular bellflowers are Canter- 

 bury bells and the steeple bellflower which 



unfortunately, have to be sown every 

 year, since they do not bloom until the 

 second season. 



Canterbury bells (see No. 5), are un- 

 doubtedly the showiest and most popular 

 of the whole group, having flowers two 

 or three inches in diameter. You can 

 have them in blue, purple, pink or white, 

 single or double. Doubling usually spoils 

 a Campanula by substituting a confused 

 mass of petalage for the clear cut form of 

 the original, but you can get double Canter- 

 bury bells which have one perfect bell 

 within another. And the climax of horti- 

 cultural perfection in this genus is the 

 Cup and Saucer variety (var. calycan- 

 thema) in which the saucer is colored like 

 the corolla, the green, leafy sepals having 

 grown together and assumed petal-like 

 texture — one of Nature's most wonderful 

 transformations. Canterbury bells make 

 superb decorative plants and are often 

 grown in pots for porch or hall decoration, 

 but they can be lifted from the garden in 

 full bloom, potted and used for verandas. 

 The name of this species is Campanula 

 Medium. People often ask why Medium 



1. Moerheim's variety of the peach-leaved bellflower 

 8 



should be spelled with a capital M. It 

 is because the plant used to be called 

 Medium centuries before it was put into 

 the genus Campanula, and Linnaeus capital- 

 ized these old generic names of the Middle 

 Ages whenever he had to put them in 

 some other genus. The name Medium 

 has nothing to do with size of plant or 

 flower, so far as I know. Another curious 

 example is Citrus Medica, the lime, which 

 does not mean "medical citrus," but 

 "citrus of the Medes." 



The most aristocratic species is the 

 steeple bellflower {Campanula pyramidalis) , 

 also called the chimney bellflower, because 

 of its stately pyramids of bloom which 

 are often four to six feet high. This 

 is generally grown in large pots for 

 the decoration of porches, halls and ter- 

 races. The plants are not at their best, 

 as a rule, until the third year, and after 

 that are discarded. This seems to a be- 

 ginner like too much trouble, and amateurs 

 often try to grow it in the ordinary hardy 

 border, but as a garden plant it is dis- 

 appointing. On the other hand, after 

 once seeing well grown specimens in all their 

 glory — sometimes six feet high, you will 

 never forget the note of aspiration which is 

 the unique feature of this soulful flower. 



THE PERENNIAL BELLFLOWERS 



All the other species mentioned in this 

 article are perennial, i. e., they are supposed 

 to five from year to year. Unhappily, 

 the most popular kinds are not very 

 long-lived, especially on heavy soil that is 

 damp in winter. However, after once 

 purchasing a plant you need never lose 

 it from your garden, provided your border 

 is well drained, and you can even increase 

 your stock by dividing the old clumps 

 in spring or early autumn. 



TWO BROAD-CUPPED BELLFLOWERS 



The most popular perennial bellflowers 

 which anyone can grow are the peach- 

 leaved and the Chinese both of which are 

 broader than bell-shaped, the flowers being 

 more like wide cups or saucers. 



The peach-leaved bellflower or "peach 

 bells" (C. persicifolia) , is the greatest 

 favorite. (See No. 2) It grows two or 

 three feet high, and has flowers two or 

 more inches across, but these are not dis- 

 tinctive characters, like the narrow, toothed 

 leaf which, once seen, is never forgotten. 

 This species has more varieties than any 

 other, all supposed to represent some 

 improvement, and very confusing to the 

 beginner because they are often catalogued 

 as species instead of varieties. 



There are four main lines of improve- 

 ment in Campanula along which breeders 

 aim: color, size, doubleness, and ever- 

 blooming character. The normal color 



