Here is our complete collection of the lovely Genus Campanula all on one page.

  • Campanula alliariifolia is an picture of elegance and refinement with its tall spires hung generously with creamy white bells enhanced by the darker calyces. A beautiful bellflower for sun or part shade so long as not too dry. Grows from a single central rootstock rather than a spreading mat. Leaves are a soft hairy texture. 70cm. Alliaria, whose leaves this Campanulas resemble is Hedge Mustard
Campanula alliariifolia

Campanula alliariifolia

  • Campanula trachelium ‘Bernice’. Tight dense clumps of long stemmed foliage give rise to numerous quite stiff upright stems that are clothed all the way up with a succession of  very neat and fully double rich mauve-purple bells. to 60cm. Quite a bit shorter than the parent species.
Campanula trachelium 'Bernice'

Campanula trachelium ‘Bernice’

  • Campanula ‘Sarastro’. From mats of soft pale green hairy leaves come tall waving stems hung with rich deep purple bells. Similar to Kent Belle, but more mauve in colour with dark buds, longer bells, a more compact habit and longer flowering season. Loved by the bees. 60cm
Campanula 'Sarastro'

Campanula ‘Sarastro’

  • Campanula ‘Kent Belle’. From a mat of apple green, heart shaped spreading foliage rise 45-60cm high candelabras hung with large deep rich purple inflated bells. The flowers of this variety are relatively squat when compared to Campanula punctata typed, but the flowering stems are taller and a little more open. Will repeat flower if cut back. Best in well drained soil. Even good on chalk
Campanula 'Kent Belle'

Campanula ‘Kent Belle’

  • Campanula ‘Van-Houttei’ is a delightful cross between C.latifolia and C.puntata showing characteristics of both parents. The many short flowering stems  hang with long mauve bells, opening from darker elongated buds. Flower stems tend to less branced than C.punctata but laxer than C.latifolia. Inherits a spreading habit from C.punctata. Will rebloom if cut back. 30cm, spreading
Campanula 'Van Houttei'

Campanula ‘Van Houttei’

  • Campanula punctata ‘Pink Chimes’ is a dwarf hybrid with 30cm short upright candelabras, dense with 7.5cm long inflated cream bells; heavily marked inside with maroon spots. Forms a low creeping mat of foliage. Mmid height for a Campanula punctata variety with leaves of a paler shade of green.

Campanula punctata 'Pink Chimes'

  • From a low spreading foliage mat of soft pale green hairy leaves rise 45cm high candelabras hung with 7.5cm inflated bells, heavily maroon spotted over a rich pink base. Best in well drained soil and good on chalk.

Campanula punctata f. rubriflora 'Cherry Bells'

Campanula punctata f. rubriflora ‘Cherry Bells’

  • Campanula punctata ‘Pantaloons’ is a new addition to this form of Campanula with flowers that are a hose-in-hose double. Each bell colours from a spotty lilac-pink at the base to cream at the tips, so that the inner bell pokes out of the outer like petticoat. The doubling has created a shorter bell than is typical with a broader opening. 60cm

Campanula punctata 'Pantaloons'

Campanula punctata ‘Pantaloons’

  • This is the whitest of the punctata forms with broad bells in a creamy ivory white, double with one bell within the other. The flowers have a covering inside of fine red spots. Spreading clumps of broad hairy heart shaped foliage.

Campanula punctata ‘Wedding Bells’

Campanula punctata ‘Wedding Bells’

  • Campanula punctata forma. rubriflora. From a low spreading foliage mat rise 45cm high candelabras hung with 7.5cm inflated bells; maroon spotted over a pink base. The leaves are relatively shiny and, along with the stems, take on a red staining. One of the taller more open Campanula punctata forms. Best in well drained soil. good on chalk
Campanula punctata 'Rubriflora'

Campanula punctata ‘Rubriflora’

  • Campanula lactiflora ‘Prichard’s Variety’ is a strong coloured short growing milky bellflower. 50cm stems with large heads that branch and branch to create a dense head of starry cupped mauve flowers. Equally good in the border or naturalised in grass. Cuts well for the house. Milky Bellflower. Forms a compact, dense clump with stiff flowering stems. Cut back to the ground after flowering.
Campanula lactiflora 'Prichard's Variety'

Campanula lactiflora ‘Prichard’s Variety’

  • Campanula lactiflora ‘Loddon Anna’ is the beautiful pale pink form of the milky bellflower. 5ft tall stems sway gracefully topped with a dense branching head of starry cupped flowers in softest pink. Equally good in the border or naturalised in grass. Cuts well for the house. Cut back to the ground after flowering.
Campanula lactiflora 'Loddon Anna'

Campanula lactiflora ‘Loddon Anna’

  • Campanula glomerata ‘Caroline’ is an exciting new variety of clustered bellflower carrying large dense heads of tightly crowded flowers that are rich lilac-pink fading to white in the throat. A strong grower with distinctive pale olivey green foliage.
Campanula glomerata 'Caroline'

Campanula glomerata ‘Caroline’

  • Clustered Bellflower. Pure white flowers are clusterd at the top of the 30cm stems as well as in the axils of the leafy bracts along its length. A compact glistening white form of one of our native bellflowers. Native across most of Europe, including England where the purple form grows wild on chalk downs. Elsewhere it grows in hedge margins and in mountain meadows. 30cm, June to August. Good for cutting and for bees.

Campanula glomerata var. alba

Campanula glomerata var. alba

  • Campanula latifolia var. macrantha is a wonderful and extremely long-suffering bellflower which will endure no end of dog’s abuse in the garden and come up each year with the most lovely show of flowers. Each flowering stem, up to 4ft high, will drip with long flared tubular bells in a soft lavender blue. The seed heads that follow are like clustered round balls up and down the stem and can be used as a decoration in themselves. Takes a dry site very well. Campanula latifolia, the Giant Bellflower a British native, common in the North in woods but absent in the South. This is one of the parents of the lovely varieties ‘Van Houttei’ and ‘Burghaltii’

Campanula latifolia var. macrantha

Campanula latifolia var. macrantha

  • Campanula latifolia ‘Brantwood’ is a selection of our native Giant Bellflower with a couple of characteristics that recommend it. The flowers are narrower than the species and of a much richer lavender-blue. As well as this they are held more horizontally on the stem rather than all hanging down. Altogether it is a little more refined in it appearance. selected from John Ruskin’s garden on the shores of Lake Coniston in the Lake District. About a fortnight earlier into flower than Campanula latifolia var. macrantha. 130cm.

Campanula latifolia 'Brantwood'

Campanula latifolia ‘Brantwood’

  • Campanula persicifolia ‘Pride of Exmouth’. The flowers of this beautiful variety are well cupped with a second inner cup that is ruched, giving a quite double impression. The colour is a strong violet blue which, coupled with a relatively dense habit and closely spaced flowers, makes for a most striking variety.  Height 80cm Excellent cut flower. Good on chalk. Possibly the shortest of the C.persicifolia varieties
Campanula persicifolia 'Pride of Exmouth'

Campanula persicifolia ‘Pride of Exmouth’

  • Amongst the persicifolia types, Campanula persiciflia ‘Boule de Neige’ is distinguished by the fullest flowers of all. The pure white flowers have at least 5 rows of petals making them very full indeed. At the centre of each flower the eye is limey green which picks up nicely the pale limey green of the opening buds. This isn’t the strongest of varieties which is probably why it has declined in cultivation. Dawn gave her Garndmother a piece of this clone at least twenty years ago and it has survived in her garden in Stalbridge ever since. We brought it back into cultivation last year just before she passed away.

Campanula persicifolia 'Boule de Neige'

Campanula persicifolia ‘Boule de Neige’

Campanula persicifolia 'Grandiflora'

Campanula persicifolia ‘Grandiflora’

  • Campanula persicifolia ‘Telham Beauty’. This variety is distinguished by especially large flowers in a lovely powder blue Its habit is reminiscent of a large harebell Evergreen foliage. Good on chalky soils
Campanula persicifolia 'Grandiflora'

Campanula persicifolia ‘Grandiflora’

  • Campanula persicifolia ‘Alba’. The large bells of this variety are a pure glistening white. A real elegant flower that associates well with greens and blues, lifting any scheme it is planted in. Height 80cm Excellent cut flower. Good on chalk. Can be grown in shade.

Campanula persicifolia 'Alba'

  • Campanula persicifolia ‘Chettle Charm’ (‘George Chiswell’).  A beautiful new variety. Large creamy white flowers with a lilac ‘picotee’ edge. A tall variety that possesses an elegant slender character when seen against other varieties. Good on chalk. Forms a mat of spreading evergreen foliage. Good cut flower and one of the tallest of the persicifolia varieties.
Campanula persicifolia 'Chettle Charm' ('George Chiswell')

Campanula persicifolia ‘Chettle Charm’ (‘George Chiswell’)

  • Campanula persicifolia ‘Blue Bloomers’. A blooming good variety with large flowers that are more saucer shaped than the type. They are a good strong blue and have a extra set of petals creating a hose in hose bloom. One of the taller varieties. Evergreen foliage. Good on chalky soils
Campanula persicifolia 'Blue Bloomers'

Campanula persicifolia ‘Blue Bloomers’

  • Campanula latiloba ‘Hidcote Amethyst’. The colour of the flowers of this Campnaula are hard to describe meaningfully They are not the violet of a typical amethyst at all, but likewise not a typical pink. Possibly they are a faded rose with a hint of lavender. No matter; whatever they score on the RHS colour chart there’s no doubt they are subtle and lovely. The flowering stems are a bolt upright stem, studded with outward facing saucer-stars like a floral tribute to the PO Tower. When happy it will quickly spread to form a healthy mat of pale apple-green Evergreen foliage. Survives best in a soil that is light and doesn’t sit wet in the WInter. Grows well on alkaline soils; sun or shade. 60cm in flower.
Campanula latiloba 'Hidcote Amethyst'

Campanula latiloba ‘Hidcote Amethyst’

 

 

 

Campanulas are the Bellflowers, covering a wide range of species from small creeping alpines to robust tall herbaceous perennials. In general they all enjoy a position in a well-drained, cool soil in full sun, though several species will grow very happily in light woodland. Amongst these shade tolerant varieties are Campanula persicifolia and Campanula latifolia. Several of the more robust species are ideal for naturalising in grass, for example Campanula lactiflora and Campanula latifolia.

There are Campanula species native to Britain, including the diminutive Harebell, Campanula rotundifolia, which can be found growing in chalk grasslands. Two larger native species are Campanula trachelium, the Nettle-Leaved Bellflower or Bats-in-the-Bellfry, which grows on heavy soils throughout Britain and the very tall Giant Bellfower, Campanula latifolia, which grows mainly in woods in the North of the country. Campanula glomerata can also be found growing in chalky meadows.

Campanula trachelium has an interesting naming history. The specific epithet ‘trachelium’ derives from ‘trachelos’ – a throat. This comes from its former use as a remedy for sore throats, leading to another of its common names, Throatwort. The name Bats-in-the-Bellfry doesn’t allude to madness, but to a fancied resemblance between the stamens hanging in the bell-like flower and bats hanging in the bells of the church steeple.

Many Campanula are Mediterranean in origin, but their distribution covers most of temperate Europe across into Asia, extending into the Hinalayas. Campanulas can be grown very successfully on chalky sites.

Many Campanula cut well for the house, Campanulas persicifolia and lactiflora especially. In its native region, Campanula pyrimidalis ‘Alba’ is frequently used as an altar flower.

Campanula was, in past times, used as a vegetable, but its use has long since fallen from favour. The species principally used was Campanula rapunculus – Rampion, the roots of which were boiled like a parsnip and the leaves eaten as a salad vegetable. There is mention of it  by Shakespeare’s Falstaff and by Drayton in his poem Polyolbion showing that rampions use was widespread  in the 16th Century. Rampion also figures in the Fairy Tale Rapunzel on account the belief that caused quarrels between children.

Campanula derives from the diminutive from of ‘Campana’ a bell.

Campanulaceae