Comments on: Campanula Carpatica a Delightful Bellflower

By: Northern Shade

Northern Shade — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 14:01:46 +0000

SchneiderHein, as the trees grow, a garden does get shadier and shadier. I have less room for the full sun loving plants, but still lots of room for part shade. These would look delightful near a pond.

By: SchneiderHein

SchneiderHein — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 05:43:10 +0000

Yes, I can remember … Fortunately some of them are able to stay in my mothers garden near the sunny pond. They are so beautiful, but in our garden it’s not possible any more :-(

By: Northern Shade

Northern Shade — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 05:12:02 +0000

The Garden Ms. S, my other group of carpatica are sited like you describe, at the front of a bed where they get more light. The Campanula are the showiest blooms in the garden right now. I have a number of different bellflowers grouped in one garden bed, and it is my current favourite.

By: The Garden Ms. S

The Garden Ms. S — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 04:11:26 +0000

I had the Weisse Clips and Blaue Clips in my last garden towards the front of a shade bed where they got a little more sun and they did very well.

I really like the freshness they bring to a mid-summer garden.

By: Northern Shade

Northern Shade — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 03:00:05 +0000

Dave, part of the new extension to a bed in my backyard has more sun than shade. I’ve heard that Platycodon are slow to come up, but the end of the July is definitely sleeping in. I won’t try them in a shady area. They would make a great planting with bulbs, time sharing the space.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:27:51 +0000

Hi Rebecca – My volunteer peachleaf bellflowers bloomed the first year, last July, but not much. They have been outdoing themselves this July, but look like they are nearing the end of their bloom. Given that most things here have been 10-14 days behind this year, could be yours have already bloomed.

NS – I’ve had poor luck with balloon flowers in shade. They are attractive, but come up so late (27 July last year!) that they have never put on much of a show. I planted a Platycodon grandiflora ‘Sentimental Blue’ last Fall, but it is barely an inch high yet and doesn’t look promising. If you try them, I’d suggest a sunny spot that warms up early.

By: Northern Shade

Northern Shade — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:14:09 +0000

Rebecca, it sounds like the tags got mixed up before you bought them. It’s a good thing that Campanula carpatica is such a nice plant.

I’ve been thinking of adding some Platycodon to a new section that I’ve expanded in my bellflower area. The new part is reasonably sunny too. The dwarf ‘Astra Blue’ sounds like a good idea.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:58:14 +0000

Thanks for the information, since they are both flowering, and look almost identical I suspect they are abot carpatica.

Another lovely perennial, similar to blue carpatica is the Dwarf Balloon Flower Platycodon grandiflorus “Astra Blue”, the buds are a fun balloon shape just prior to opening, but then resemble the carpatica flowers quite a bit.

By: Northern Shade

Northern Shade — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:45:23 +0000

Rebecca, the C. poscharskyana has long flower stems with multiple blooms. The stems with flowers tend to grow out more horizontally, and have a number of blooms all around them, spreading out sideways from the plant. The flowers are star shaped, with 5 narrow petals, and there can be over 50 or even a hundred on one plant.

The C. carpatica have upturned bells that look like cups, with scalloped edges. They are much bigger than the poscharskyana flowers. The carpatica makes a neat mound, and hold the large flowers mostly just above the leaves, making a hemisphere of blooms over the plant.

The leaves are very similar, although the mature poscharskyana leaves can get larger. If it’s not flowering yet, then they are harder to tell apart.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:32:37 +0000

NS, I added some C.poscharskyana, but it’s hard to differentiate with the blue C.campanula. I suspect it may have been mislabled.