Belle soft he summer ball
Soft bell flowers of all shapes and sizes will ring the changes
THIS time of year can be low-key in the garden. Early show- stoppers such as bearded irises, lupins and big poppies are gone, but the hotter, sunnier tones of late summer are still a few weeks off. Yet in a well-planted plot, the mood changes pleasingly as we enter a period of quiet beauty with softer colours. And some of the loveliest plants for this are the bellflowers.
The bell family, Campanulaceae, contains some 400 species worldwide. Almost all are beautiful and several are native to Britain.
You can buy and plant containerised bellflowers at any time of year. They are easy to propagate and you can take cuttings in spring, sow home-saved seed in autumn or lift and divide mature plants in March or October.
Most campanulas are perennial, but there are also biennials such as gorgeous old- fashioned Canterbury bells, and even a few annuals. Sizes run from 2m whoppers to tiny little alpines. CAMPANULA flowers are nearly always bell-shaped. Some have elongated tubular bells with flared bottoms. Others are more cup-like and in a few, the cups have opened into five-pointed stars. They are mainly blue shades, but can be white or lilac pink.
Native bellflowers are commonest in limy or chalky soils. Wild harebells, Campanula rotundi- folia, flourish in my local Lincolnshire limestone. Taller nettle-leaved bellflowers, C.trachelium, are common along hedgerows and make fine garden plants. From Northern Britain, Campanula latifolia grows to 1.5m tall.
Tall varieties make great border plants. Peach-leaved bellflower, C. persicifolia, takes the least space for the most colour.
Cup-shaped flowers are carried on slender 75cm stems above low basal leaves. Cut them back after flowering and new stems often come. For a more gutsy show, plant Campanula lactiflora. Generous sprays of gaping, midsized cup- shaped flowers are borne on 1.5m plants through the summer.
Greater bellflower, C. latifolia, is a massive perennial with broad basal leaves and tall, straight stems carrying big tubular flowers. Best of the blues is probably Brantwood. THERE are plenty of little bells for patio pots or rock gardens. Starry-flowered blue or white C. isophylla is perfect for pot culture. But tiny, harebell-like C. cochlearifolia will grow in paving cracks or wall crevices.
Be warned: some bells spread too freely, either by seed or with running roots. Pretty but thuggish C. rapunculoides creeps like ground elder and rampaging C. poscharskyana is just as bad.
Nettle-leaved bellflower doesn’t creep but self- sows copiously. The flowers are gorgeous, though, coming in blue, pale violet or white. Named varieties include double- flowered Alba FlorePleno and lilac Bernice.
My favourite recently bred campanula is Iridescent Bells. The 45cm stems carry dark buds that develop into pearly, translucent-looking tubular bells.
For a hot dry spot, our native clustered bellflower C. glomerata is a good choice. The deep blue flowers are clustered atop each stem as well as down its length.
In my part of Britain, it’s rare — when I spotted my first truly wild plant on the roadside, the excitement made me fall off my bike.