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Plant Portrait Campanula chamissonis By
Roslyn Duffus There are so many
campanulas or bellflowers that I am sure that all gardeners have at least a
few in their flower beds. You may even have some that are trying to take
over your gardens. This little sweety is not going to run rampant on you and
does not appear to set copious quantities of seed as some of the others do.
In fact, the only way I have been able to spread it around has been by
division. Campanula
chamissonis (syn. C.
pilosa, C. dasyantha) is a neat little crevice plant for the rock
garden. The leaves are mid green and grow not much more than 2-4 inches
high. The bell-shaped flowers
are held facing up on short, stiff stems just above the foliage and are
maybe one inch long on my plants. They are a light purple with a white
throat and some white streaking on the petals. Mine flower in mid to
late June. I got them originally from Phyl Donnelly, so it may be one of the
named hybrids. It has flowered every year although some years much better
than others. It seems to grow best where it is confined in a crevice of
stone or concrete bricks in soil that is composed of approximately one third
each of loam, leaf mould and
grit. It has full sun and a little late afternoon shade, is very well
drained but is not allowed to become parched. Sometimes I give it a little
light feeding of compost or leaf mould scratched into the rather gritty
soil. An occasional light feeding with liquid fertilizer would probably be
okay too after it has been in place for a few years. Campanula
chamissonis is a delightful
little plant for the rock garden or trough but may be a little too vigorous
to trust in a trough with other more precious slow growing alpines. It looks
lovely smothered in bloom and may treat you to some modest late summer
reblooming. |