PlantFiles: Creeping Bellflower, Rampion Bellflower, June Bell
Campanula rapunculoides

We call it "cancer of the garden" in the Rocky Mountain area.

Creeping Bellflower, Rampion Bellflower, June Bell Campanula rapunculoides is Naturalized in Texas and other States.

This plant was in the garden when we bought our house a year ago. I love blue flowers, and bumblebees love it too. It blooms at the same time as, and gives a nice contrast to, orange daylilies (ditch lilies, not anything you'd spend money on) which were also here -- but everything everyone has said about its invasiveness and refusal to be rooted out of the garden is absolutely true. It actually grew up through a small hosta and is crowding into everything in a raised bed. I plan to keep weeding it, add mulch, and plant wildflower perennials like yarrow and Joe Pye weed to this particular area of the garden, so we'll see what a little competition will do.

It takes over flower beds and lawns. The more you pull it, the more it grows. It has breached 12 layers of newsprint (sheet mulch) in my yard. If you have the time to dig up all the tubers (the white carrots), you can make a dent in it. I rototilled along our fence where it was thick, and it has come in strong right next to the strip I tilled (meaning it has invaded the lawn).

We just dug some of this out of the ditch across from our neighbor's house and planted it. I have a wildflower garden that I put all of my 'free' plants in that we find in the woods, along the roadside, etc. We'll see how it does in a 'controlled' environment. I appreciate the 'invasive' warning. I'll keep an eye on it.

This plant is terribly invasive. It was growing in a corner of my yard when I moved here 7 years ago, and it has spread about 6 feet outward since then, in spite of my weeding it out. Tonight I kept digging at roots until I found some large tap roots at the center. I felt like a hero burning Dracula's casket. I know this isn't the end, though. There are more evil spawn out there to conquer.

Where I live In Colorado, as in most of western & north central US (and parts of Canada), this plant is considered an invasive weed. Yes, I do believe it is beautiful, and yes, it is very easy to grow. A quick Google search will reveal a lot. Unless you live in Europe, I encourage you to research more about this plant before allowing it to enter your life.

I enjoy this flower's constant bloom, and it fills in where I have holes.

I like this plant, and have never had any trouble with it choking out other plants. It's been in my garden for 2-3 years now. I live in zone 5. Maybe after it's been in my garden longer it will become invasive, and I will have to get rid of it, but so far, so good!

I found Creeping Bellflower (Campanula rapunculoides) growing wild in a meadow near Cortland NY this week (August 2004). I used the field guide by Peterson & McKenny – A Field Guide to Wildflowers to id it since it was new to me. The field guide says the style is long, straight, and white. In the flowers I saw and the photos on this website show a purple or lavendar colored style, definitely not white. Is Peterson wrong or is the purple-colored style a different variety?

It's considered a weed here in zone 6 NY. I have been battling it since I moved here 18 years ago and don't believe I will ever get it out of the hedge. It is included in the R.T. Peterson Field Guide to Wildflowers as "alien" and it always reminds me of the movie ALIEN -- that one was hard to kill, too.

This is the perfect plant for the lazy gardener. Put this in your yard and soon you won't have to look after any other plants. If it's this invasive in zone 3, imagine what it can do for you in a warmer zone. It's a magic plant, coming up everywhere and returning where you thought you had killed it all. This plant is considered a weed of the worst kind by gardeners in my area.

This plant is invasive for those with a small plot of land! Here in New Hampshire USA, it blooms for months! In fact, it even survives several frosts! I highly recommend it for those who have a large area and do not want a lot of upkeep! It takes care of itself and reseeds splendidly!

It grows in both poor soil or good soil I have never watered any of them, never weeded them and they always look great! For ten years they have grown here without protection from the harsh winds on a cliff!

Starting in mid spring, flowers appear on thin stalks. Lavender and bell-shaped, with 5 pointed bracts, with the majority of petals on one side of the plant's stalk.

Leaves are narrow, toothed. Lower leaves wider and heart-shaped.

This plant can be invasive; plant where it will not crowd other plants.

Background: A common name for Creeping Bellflower in Europe is Rampion, which comes from the plant's Latin name. Rampion figures prominently in Old World fairy tales.

Rapunzel is named after the flower, and her exile to the tower is a witch's punishment to the girl's father, who stole rampion from her magic garden to help his wife in childbirth. In another story, a maid who digs up a rampion plant discovers a staircase that leads to a magnificent underground palace.