10 Lovely Campanulas
flower gardens since the sixteenth century. It gets 2 to 3 feet (60 to 90 cm) tall with large blue-violet to white flowers in a cluster at the top of its erect stems. We carry varieties in white and blue and a new variety from Blooms of Bressingham in England called 'Chettle Charm', which is white with a lovely painterly edge of blue. A combination of all three colours, in a lightly shaded border, mixed with sword ferns and hostas, is a relaxing sight for sore eyes.
PICTURES AND INFO
Campanula persicifolia 'Chettle Charm' - Closeup of flower
Campanula persicifolia 'Chettle Charm' - Lots of full flower stems
Canterbury bells (C. medium) An old favourite that's not really a perennial. This is classed as a biennial, meaning that in the first year the plant grows leaves only. In the second year, the plant will flower. If you let these go to seed, they will re-seed in your garden and form a self-perpetuating colony. If you don't let them go to seed they will try to grow again next year, but weakly, so it's really better to let them go to seed. Canterbury bells were very popular in Victorian times and are especially appropriate today in cottage gardens or among other antique flowers. They grow from 12 to 30 inches (30 to 70 cm) tall, with many large oblong flowers up to 3 inches (7 cm) long in lilac, blue, pink or white.
PICTURES AND INFO
Campanula medium - Picture on a Japanese page.
Campanula medium - More Pictures on a French page.
The milky bellflower (C. lactiflora) These are a very choice for a lightly shaded woodland garden on the wild side. It's from the mountains of the Russian Caucasus, where it flowers from July to mid-August in the forest. It's a robust, well-branched perennial that combines well with shrubs or statuesque perennials like Cimicifuga (snakeroot) and Aruncus (Goat's Beard). The flowers are milky white or pale blue, endures our dry summer season and is very long-lived.
PICTURES AND INFO
Campanula lactiflora 'Loddon Anne' - Pictures from a German Personal Garden Page.
Campanula lactiflora 'Pritchards Variety' - Close-up and entire plant.
This article was written by the author of this topic but is was originally published in the April/May, 1999 issue of GardenNotes, and was later abridged and re-formatted for use on the web.
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