BALLOON-FLOWER
Family CAMPANULACEAE
Platycodon grandiflorum
Perennial
Also known as the Japanese or Chinese Bell-flower,
this is a valuable border plant from China and
Japan with a number of attractive forms.
The leaves are lance-shaped, smooth and irregularly
toothed.
The flowers are not unlike those of Campanula
persiciflora but open more flatly, are three
inches across and deep blue in colour.
The height is one foot. It is the inflated bud
that gives the plant its popular name.
There are various forms in
var. album, white;
var. autumnale, a late-flowering
form;
var. japonicum, stronger and more free-flowering
than the type;
var. mariesii, only six to nine inches high, with
flowers varying from deep to pale blue or white.
In cultivation a well-drained light soil is necessary,
the roots tending to decay in heavy soils.
Plant in spring in preference to autumn.
Propagate from seed, cutting or young shoots or
by division.
The latter method is difficult owing to the fleshy
nature of the roots.
The flowering season is in June and July.
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