Forward with Campanulaceae!
As the extreme cold goes on we will push forward with a few species from the bellflower family. This family includes a lot of species with flowers in various shades of blue: from a light, soft blue to deep blue and blue-violet.
Besides Campanula (it would be very hard to enumerate all species), a few of the most cultivated genera in cold climates are: Edraianthus, Asyneuma, Phyteuma, Jasione, Platycodon, Lobelia, Codonopsis…(and possibly I forgotten some).
Most species are easy to grow from seeds and adaptable in cultivation, and you can find suitable species for a variety of locations, like rockeries and flower beds, woodlands; from sun to shade, and dry to moist.
As it happens, they are not yet well represented in my garden and one of my garden-goals is to try and do better in regards to the Campanulaceae. I already shown Jasione in the last post; here are a few more samples in various shades of blue:
Campanula alpina ssp. orbelica, Pirin
Campanula alpina var. bucegiensis, Bucegi Mts.
Campanula cochlearifolia, Carpathian Mts.
Campanula carpatica, cultivated
Campanula serrata, Bucegi Mts.
Campanula glomerata, in wild habitat
Campanula, Pirin
Campanula jordanovii, Pirin
Campanula abietina, Carpathians
Campanula rotundifolia, Bruce pen.
Lobelia spicata, Bruce pen.
Campanulastrum americanum
Phyteuma scheuchzeri
Phyteuma orbiculare in wild habitat
Platycodon ‘Sentimental Blue’
And my only Edraianthus graminifolius (not from lack of trying), probably one of the easiest to grow.
Edraianthus graminifolius
Wonderful, and now I just finished your 3-part tour of the Pirins … how did I miss it last year?! Very therapeutic, thanks.
Thanks Hollis, I ‘splurged’ with the website space that’s for sure. Winter makes me do ‘bad’ things :))