PlantFiles: Canterbury Bells
Campanula medium

Positive so far, but I only have seedlings I need to get in the ground before cold weather... 300 of them! I'm hoping to sell them as cut flowers next year. They were easy to germinate in trays although somewhat slow to grow to real leaves.

i planted pink canterbury bells for the first time this spring. the first plant bloomed beautifully - the second isn't quite as colorful (heat?) and the third on has a nice green base, but no sign of an flower stalks coming yet. will i be able to save the seed pods in the same way i save hollyhock seeds and plant them indoors next march?

If you grow plants from seeds, as I did, make sure you clearly label and stake out the area where they are planted, or you'll end up with 'surprise plants' like I did!

For the longest time I remained puzzled about these plants, and the flower pods seemed to take forever to open. The stem was 3' tall and covered with leaves and mystery bloom pods, and my curiosity nearly killed me. When they did finally open in early June, the blooms were spectacular!

It is now the end of August, and there are still some blooms opening on these plants! And bells cut off at the stem and kept in a vase last for weeks, as long as the water is changed daily.

Garden fairy, aka DD, evidently planted these in a cottage garden mix she threw about. Didn't know what it was. After 2 years I told it "bloom or be removed." Low and behold, 4 colors and all beautious. Query. Can I move them? The grand design did not include them where they are currently residing.

My experience with this plant was positive. Very easy to grow, (I'm in the Mid-Atlantic), didn't seem to mind the very acid soil near evergreen shrubs, seemed to thrive in it! Very pretty. They were shorter than I expected, but required no special care, (except staking some), no diseases or bugs, and they germinated quickly from seed.

I was amazed to see how long the flowers lasted out in the Southern California sun. I waited 10 days for more flowers to bloom before I took a picture, and I only had to deadhead 5 or 6 flowers. Wow!

I planted these with painted daisies (pyrethrum) and the effect was really pleasing. This is a great color spot to provide blues among all the pastels in most gardens.

Very pretty biennial plant, I grew mine from seeds. It bloomed twice and produced big pods which had seeds I think, but they had dropped out, when I tried to pick them, there were somekind of small sharp needles that stung me. So wear gloves if you try to collect them..

I sowed mine just outdoors, I bought a cheap packet of the seeds and I spread the seeds on top of the soil on a small shady area. They sprouted and I got many seedlings which from about 8 survived. I replanted them to half-shady area and next Spring they were still alive :D One bloomed. Other probably will bloom next summer.

Mine bloomed nicely last summer, but did not make it through our zone 5 winter.

Grows in Heat Zones 9-1.

A classic cottage garden plant, this biennial bellflower has large showy blooms of pink, blue, purple, and white. There are varieties sold now that claim they can be grown as an annual but typically they are grown as a biennial. The first year they form a rosette of deep green foliage and in the second year they send up multiple stems with 3-inch cup shaped blooms. A native of southern Europe, they grow 2 – 4 feet tall and are hardy in zones 4-10.