Campanula – Bell flower. (see also Canterbury Bell).
Hardy Perennial
Various heights, colours in several shades of blue, purple and white.
June to September.

The Bell Flowers are the largest and perhaps the most delightful family of hardy flowers known to the garden. They vary in height from four inches to five or six feet; they comprise annuals, biennials and perennials among their numbers; they are almost without exception hardy, refreshingly healthy, and “good doers”.
All alike prefer a good garden soil without extremes wither towards clay or sand, and an exposure open and sunny without being in the least parched or droughty.
The truly perennial sorts should be planted in autumn or early spring, and may stand in one place (with due attention to cleaning and top-dressing) three of four years. The biennials and annual sorts must be tended according to the directions given for each variety. The following are some of the most distinct and easily grown out of the forty or fifty kinds known to the catalogues.

Campanula Carpatica. Hardy Perennial. About 1 foot. Flowers June – September, light harebell blue on upright stalks. There is also a white form. Plant in borders in November or March. May be raised from seed sown in boxes in May.

Campanula Grandiflora – Platycodon. Hardy Perennial. 2 feet. Flowers in August, a flattened bell or saucer-shape, blue. Grown in the same way as the last.

Campanula Glomerata Dahurica. Hardy Perennial. Eighteen inches. Flowers June and July, deep purple, in thickly clustered heads. Plant pieces of the roots in autumn or spring, in perennial or mixed borders.

Campanula Latifolia Alba. Hardy Perennial. Five to six feet. Flowers white, July. Not particular as to soil.

Campanula Latifolia Van Houttei. Hardy Perennial. 2 feet. Flowers bell-shaped, dark blue, July and August. Plant roots in borders.

Campanula Medium (see Canterbury Bell)

Campanula Nobilis – Punctata. Hardy Perennial. Eighteen inches. Flowers in June and July, long bell-shaped, white spotted inside with red. Rather slender growth. Plant pieces of root in March.

Campanula Persicifolia – The Peach-Leaved Bell-Flower. Hardy Perennial. Four feet. Flowers in June and July, fine purple blue. Makes spreading tufts of ground foliage from which the flower-stems rise in early summer.

Campanula Persicifolia Alba – The White Peach-Leaved Bell-Flower.
This, the white form of the last (it differs in several points besides the colour), is one of the finest border plants in existence, and an endeavour to grow it should be made at all costs. Like the blue type, it makes a mat or clump of low-growing leaves, but the flower stems are slighter, and the spire of bells taller and more graceful. The flowers are not far from the harebell shape, and in colour a very beautiful, slightly bluish white, which has a peculiar luminous quality under evening light. The roots, which, as in many of the Campanulas, make a network of running fibres, should be planted in autumn on kindly soils, in March where winters have been proved perilous. The soil should be rich and fairly strong, a stiff clay is not to be despised. Take care that the fibrous roots be spread horizontally in planting, and not covered too deeply with soil. When the flower stems are thrown up, try if possible to let them support themselves, as sticks are a peculiar eyesore with this Campanula, but it is not likely that the plants will entirely manage without help, with an average summer’s rain and winds. The best way of growing Campanula persicofolia is in lines or large patches; isolated plants are not nearly so effective as a regiment. Campanula persicofolia must be carefully looked after in the way of breaking up and replanting; when once a good stock of the plant has been obtained, it is best to take up some slumps every year, pulling them carefully to pieces, and planting out small sections in a nursery bed of good soil. Without consistent renovation the clumps have a sad way of “going thin” in the middle. And throwing up poor spindling growth; and in a few years a garden whose chief feature was its groves of white bells may entirely lose the variety. New stock should be obtained at intervals, and plants may be raised from seed sown in boxes in May and given cool frame treatment. There are two or three “improved” strains of Campanula persicofolia alba, with somewhat taller growth and larger bells, the best of which is “Blackhouse’s” or grandiflora. These may supplement, but should not supersede, the type. There is also a double variety, plena forming a spike of white rosettes, entirely lacking the charm of the single bells.

Campanula Pyramidalis – Chimney Campanula. Hardy Perennial. 4 to 6 feet. August. Light purple-blue. Also Pyramidalis alba, like the last in all points, except the flowers are white.
Though generally called a perennial, the Chimney Campanula is by no means a stand-by such as Carpatica or Persicofolia. Though it may occasionally survive to a third year, as a rule it flowers itself to death in its second summer, and is best treated strictly as a biennial. Seed should be sown in May or early June, in boxes in a cold frame or greenhouse, or even in the open, if partial shade and some defence from extremes of weather can be given. The seedlings should be pricked out in nursery beds, whose soil, if naturally at all heavy, may be helped with some light stuff, leaf-mould or potting soil. As the plant is not absolutely hardy, it is best to avoid all risks by wintering the seedlings under a frame. In March they should be planted out in the places where they are to flower, and the soil should be made thoroughly good for them. It is important that the seedlings should be well grown on, and should form stout little tufts by the autumn, or they may flower but feebly or fail altogether in the following summer. A well-grown specimen throws up from four to a dozen stout stems, which are clothed almost from top to bottom with clustering bells. The growth is succulent, and somewhat brittle, and sticks and ties are almost inevitable. The blue variety is very beautiful, but is surpassed by the white; both may be grown together with excellent effect. Groups of three plants will make effective spires of colour in a border, and if space can be afforded for a long line of clumps about a foot apart, the resulting hedge of campanula (which may be inconspicuously supported by a line of tarred string stretched between stakes) will be a memorable sight. When the flowering is over, in some instances a side-growth of leaves may be found at the base of the plant, which may possibly survive to another season; but it is best to clear out the old plants directly their display is over, and have new seedlings ready to succeed them.

Campanula Pumila – Caespitosa. Hardy Perennial. 4 to 6 inches. White and blue, June to August.
A compact growing dwarf kind, covered with little bell-flowers smaller than those of the wild harebell. There is a variety with light purple-blue, and another with milky white flowers. Though properly a rock-plant, it will grow well in the open border if the soil be not very heavy or wet. Plant pieces of root at any time from November to March.

Campanula Turbinata. Hardy Perennial. About a foot high. Flowers purple-blue in July.
The best of the lower-growing Campanulas. It forms a thick tuft or bush, closely set with saucer-shaped blue flowers as large as a half-crown, and when once established will flourish for years without further attention than a winter top-dressing. The withered flower-stems should be carefully pulled away at the annual clearance in November. The plant may be raised from seed in the manner recommended for other perennial bell-flowers; the sowing may be made in May on a fine bit of soil, or in boxes; the seedlings should be put out in their permanent positions in autumn. Old plants may be divided at any time before growth is advanced; a clump should be forked up and cut into sections with a knife; replant the outer portions, which have good roots, either in nursery beds or in new sites in the border.

Campanula Attica. Hardy Annual. Six inches. Flowers violet, in July. Also a white variety.
A dwarf annual sort, free flowering; the seed may be sown out of doors in April in good light soil, or may be brought on under glass with the half-tender things such as Stocks and Asters.

Campanula Lorei. Hardy Annual. One foot. Flowers blue, July. An annual requiring the same treatment as the last.

Campanula Speculum – Venus’ Looking Glass. Hardy Annual. 6 to 9 inches. Flowers deep purple in July and August. Also a white variety.
A pretty little annual with very small bell-shaped flowers; seed should be sown in the open in patches or lines about the beginning of April, and the young plants promptly thinned out. It should require no further attention.

See also BellFlower