PlantFiles: Ladybells, Lady Bells
Adenophora stricta

I have no idea if new comments are placed at the top or sink to the bottom, but here goes. ADENOPHORA is NOT the "Big Bad Bully of the Garden"...it is the Creeping Bellflower or Campanula rapunculoides that has the deep tuber and is aggressive beyond belief! My lovely, polite and very, very contained Ladybell is as polite as ANY lady I know! I've had the same plant that I dug out of a friend's garden in my daylily bed for 4 years. She gets slowly larger each year but has not spread ONE INCH! Oh, how I wish I could get her to spread as I live in the country and would love to see those deep sky blue flowers all over my garden! When I transplanted this darling, she ONLY had fibrous roots, NOT the deep tap root that many of you are experiencing. To make matters worse, if you do a google image search of this plant, you get a) Scottish Bluebells; b) Creeping Bellflowers and c) the continually confused Adenophora confusa/strica...ALL with the identical photos! So, just be aware of the root system of what you're planting. And yes!, White Flower Farms is selling the utterly NON-INVASIVE version.

I have had this growing for 3 years now along a fence line with a good even mix of sun and shade. It has never left the fence row and has barely doubled in size since planting 3 years ago. It is very pretty and airy looking plant that I find perfect for my fence, and not at all invasive.

Location of the plant in this yard doesn't allow it to wander - in a small bed between driveway and house. I cut it down in May by a third to keep height down; cut by half after blooming. End of season remains are cleaned up late fall or early spring. It returns every year full of nice blue flowers.

I like to consider all plants beautiful in some way and I don't like leaving negative comments. This plant IS pretty, I will admit, but it is a noxious weed here in Montana and especially in the Helena area. This plant will and does take over whole yards, eradicating the grass completely. Then you have a broadleaf yard to mow, basically. This may not be the exact same plant but it is an Adenophora of some type. It spreads like wildfire here. It also has roots that resemble Daylily roots to an extent or perhaps even parsnips! They are large and terribly hard to dig up and break apart easily. One little piece left in the ground will produce another plant. This is easily the most aggressive and common plant/weed in the Helena, Montana area. I have actually seen this for sale in a local nursery here. One I used to work at! I asked the owner if he realized what he was growing and selling. He had no idea. Don't plant this in Montana or you will be sorry. Guaranteed.

I recently purchased one of these plants and have not placed it in the ground yet as I've been spending a great deal of time researching the "bad name" it has gotten here. After a lot of research, I'm not sure everyone here is talking about the same plant. This pretty flower has an evil twin named Campanula rapunculoides, Creeping Bellflower. In all ways they look exactly the same, but there are minute differences that take great care to isolate.

This confusion could be the reason so many here are expressing such a contrast in results.

My experience has been mixed. I have tried to grow this plant for many years. I have one planted in partial shade. It has been there for 5-6 years. Has not spread any at all. This is the first year it has bloomed! Someone gave me a start last year. With good fertilizer (Dr Earth), it has grown this year and is blooming.
I really like it! And it would be ok with me if the clump grows bigger.

I would says this species behave fairly well in woodland shade if it is surrounded by hostas - otherwise it is not good to plant it in more light or near low growing plants. The flowers is interesting for a additional to shade but is not all that wonderful.

This plant is extremely invasive in my central New York State garden, impossible to pull out or even dig out. Its deep runners will "run" even under a wide mowed pathway, cropping up among other perennials and choking them out. The best I can do is remove as much of the top growth as possible, to slow it down. It's definitely in the "thug" category, the worst one I've encountered.

I grew this plant from seed and transplanted it to a loacation with weed barrier. I didn't find it intolerant of transplant at all, like I have heard.

I'm not too impressed with my plants. They make a lot of foliage and only a couple of flower stalks that are never blooming at the same time, rather they start from the top and die off as the bottom ones flower.

even the best families have at least one trouble maker in them. this one is campanula's it re-seeds every where and is very hard to get rid of It is pretty but not worth the fight you will have to make it behave

The first couple years I grew this plant, it seemed well behaved and looked quite nice although by August it would start to look rather unkempt. It then it started to overtake the whole area, popping up everywhere and really looking weedy. I have been hard at work to eradicate this plant from my garden for the last 3 years and I still find slip of it coming up not even close the original plants. Round-up is almost the only solution, as any small piece of root left behind will sprout a new plant.

In zone 3 (Saskatchewan, Canada) this plant is extremely invasive and almost impossible to irradicate. It it considered a noxious weed by my city's Parks and Recreation Dept.

Easily grown in average, medium wet, well-drained soil in full sun to part shade. Prefers moist, organically rich soils. Good soil drainage is the key to growing this plant well. Spreads very slowly by runners, but is not invasive. May be grown from seed. Once sited in the garden, plants should be left undisturbed because they are rather difficult to divide and/or move

Pruning: Deadhead plants to lateral buds to prolong bloom and prevent seeding. When all secondary flowereing is finished, cut plants down to new basal foliage. Leave basal foliage over the winter, and clean up in spring. If plants are grown in too much shade and flopping is a problem they can be cut back or pinched in early May.
Plants can be weedy in nature, spreading rapidly and/or seeding to take over a large area. Sections of the plant should be dug out annually to keep it in its intended space. Tolerates somewhat dry hot summers, requires well draining soil. Roots are deep and fleshy and therefore difficult to divide. Long lived plant.