The Garden Magazine, May, 1921 
203 
People often claim that their mixed bulbs have reverted back to red 
or some other color. This indicates that the bulbs of some varieties 
have deteriorated, while others have been vigorous, and good multi- 
pliers. I have also heard complaints of Perennial Phlox acting in the 
same way, but I have never noticed this fault, except with one variety — 
Cross of Honor — this variety I find it impossible to keep true. — 
Willis E. Fryer, Mantorville, Minn. 
That Elusive White Violet 
To the Editor of The Garden Magazine: 
I N YOUR March issue I find a letter about obtaining roots of the White 
Violet. A neighbor of mine will supply any one desiring them at a 
nominal fee. These violets are certainly charming and grow rapidly. — 
Box 23, Strafford, Pa. 
— In The Garden Magazine for October, 1919, Mrs. Nellie Mitchell 
writes of a wonderful White Violet which she thinks is Viola striata. 
I wrote to her, but the letter was returned. I cannot find Viola striata 
listed in any catalogue, and I would like very much to know where 
1 can get some plants; there might be many others who would, too, I 
think. If the lady has any for sale I would consider it a great favor 
if 1 could purchase some. 1 find the magazine very helpful and do not 
want to miss a single number. I especially like the articles by Louise 
B. Wilder; but almost everything is interesting, and I also find the 
advertisements as interesting and as helpful as the text.— Mrs. G. G. 
Melhart, Sumner, IVash. 
— On page 48 of the March issue is a letter from Aspen, Colorado; 
also one from Delaware about White Violets. They grow plentifully 
in the Ozarks and we have quantities of the yellow and tricolor 
varieties (not Pansies) that have been transplanted to our yard. 
I have a Musk Cluster Rose brought from Maryland by my grand- 
mother in 1 8 1 1 . It is hardy in this climate, but I think it would be 
necessary to protect it in Colorado. I will gladly send two or three 
slips to Mrs. Layton if she will write and give me her full address. 
There is a complete history of this (to me) wonderful Rose in an old 
number of the magazine. I have several hundred Rose bushes in my 
garden, also many Clove Pinks. — Mrs. Wm. H. Thomson, Valley 
Home, Arcadia, Mo. 
Defending Bellflowers Once More 
To the Editor of The Garden Magazine: 
I S NOT Mr. Hinckley a little inclined to be didactic in his strictures on 
Bellflowers in The Garden Magazine for December? Like most 
other plants, Campanulas vary in their conduct according to condi- 
tions of climate, cultivation, and soil. Far from being an “infernal 
nuisance” because it is a biennial, 1 find C. Medium, the old and 
well beloved Canterbury Bell, a most valuable inhabitant of my 
garden. Fulfil its very simple requirements and it will give you great 
reward; deny them and it will heap coals of fire on your unworthy head 
by sowing itself pertinaciously in some untended garden spot or not- 
too-well-kept gravel path. You have only to transplant these vagrant 
seedlings into well prepared soil to insure a constant supply of good 
plants. 
Many people make the mistake of covering Canterbury Bells 
too warmly through the winter. Like all herbaceous perennials 
(or biennials) which grow from a central crown, they are impatient 
of heavy manure, or indeed of any heavy mulch, asking only a light 
protection of straw, leaves, orpine-boughs against the perils of winter 
sunshine and thaw. This is true even in a climate where the ther- 
mometer registers 40° below zero. Last summer I had magnificent 
specimens of bloom, both of C. Medium and C. M. calycanthema from 
seedling plants, which I discovered in September in a border where 
they had been swamped all summer by Nasturtiums and Calendulas. 
A kindly frost disclosed them to view, and, transplanted to a bed of 
rich soil, they made a good autumn growth and produced exceptionally 
fine flowers the following June. My great difficulty in keeping them 
over the winter is due to field mice and moles, which will destroy a 
large bed of them in a short time, but 1 have been quite successful in 
vanquishing these pests by sowing naptha flakes and paris green 
liberally among my Campanulas just before covering them in late 
autumn, and the same treatment has worked well with Tulips and 
Primulas. I don’t consider C. Medium a shade-loving plant, but like 
to give it a place where it has full morning sunshine; and while it 
appreciates a light rich diet, it is not discouraged by war-time rations, 
being in short, a good example of the survival of the fittest! 
C. persicifolia comes readily from seed and does fairly well with me — 
WHITE VIOLETS 
Which appeal with a subtle allure 
at least I think so until I visit the neglected old garden of a neighbor, 
where it fairly runs riot in ground shaded and drained by Maple trees, 
utterly uncared for, and crowded by hungry hordes of less desirable 
plants! Yet here, year after year, are such splendid stalks of milk- 
white bells as my carefully tended garden never can equal! You 
can cut an armful and they will never be missed. The white of this 
flower is of a peculiarly beautiful quality. It has the translucence 
and purity of melting snow. As in most other varieties of its tribe the 
blue is less good. Two Campanulas which Mr. Hinckley fails to men- 
tion are good shade-growers and are favorites with me — C. punctata 
and C. rapunculoides. The former has large tubular bells, cream- 
white without, speckled like a sparrow’s egg within, hanging irregularly 
on a stem from twelve to fifteen inches tall. It is a good companion 
for Peonies, blossoming at the same time, and its only fault is a ten- 
dency to increase too rapidly from the root, as does its neighbor, the 
pretty Snowdrop Anemone (another shade-loving plant by the way). 
C. rapunculoides is the “old Blue-bell” of farm-house gardens of 
Colonial days. No catalogue lists it, so far as I know, and my own 
stock of it has been gleaned from road-side patches where it has crept 
from some old flower plot, or from a clearing in the woods where a clump 
of Tansy and Blue-bells, a Lilac or a Cinnamon Rose bush still show 
“where once a garden smiled.” It has a slender, tapering spire of blue 
flowers with rather spreading segments. The charming little C. 
pulla, C. pusilla, and C. portenschlagiana are all dainty rock-plants 
deserving to be better known in this country. I have brought them 
from England and they have lived, with me, for a year or two, with 
protection, but they are fugitive at best. Do they need lime in the 
soil? Will not some one who has grown them successfully tell me? 
The exquisite white C. isophylla is the prettiest of pot plants and 
is easily propagated by division. Has any one found it hardy as far 
north as New York or New England? 
Let us not forget our own native Hare-bell, C. rotundifolia, one of 
our most charming wild flowers, an unfailing surprise and delight, 
whether one comes upon a colony of its graceful flowers swinging on 
their wiry stems among the scarlet Columbines of an upland pasture 
in late May, or sturdily blossoming after November frosts have nipped 
every other flower except the pale honey-yellow of the Witch-hazel 
which grows on the same rocky hill-side. It takes kindly to cultiva- 
tion and does not lose its grace as do so many wild flowers under similiar 
circumstances. All the above-named Campanulas will grow well in 
shade except C. Medium; such, at least, is my experience. — M. E. 
Hale, Florida. 
A Bit of Encouragement 
To the Editor of The Ga*rden Magazine: 
I ONLY wish 1 could express to you how we love your Garden Mag- 
azine. We bought a home here a year ago, and since then have 
changed even our language when speaking of flowers, now using the 
botanical names. You have given such wonderful help to us in 
