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Peach leaf bellflower or canterbury bells: pros and cons?

14 years ago

Which of the 2 are taller?

Do either need staking?

What are your experiences with them: Pro's and cons?

Thanks so much!

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Comments (5)

christinmk z5b eastern WA
14 years ago
Both are about the same height, though I believe the Canturburry Bells can get larger.

C. medium (Canturburry Bells) are biannual while Campanula persicifolia (Peach-Leaf-Bellflower) is perennial.

I tried CBells many years ago. I gave up after four plants died out. They seem to rot out readily, so it is not a bad idea to treat them like annuals. It needs fairly moist, good draining soil.They are beautiful plants though, and the dark purple ones are amazing. But there are just too many other wonderful, and not fussy, Campanulas out there to plant this one.

Campanula persicifolia is a great plant. Stays upright and is somewhat drought tolerant, though it does great in moist soils. I have my 'Alba' in an area where nothing else will grow due to tree roots. The Bellflowers are shallow rooted enough not to care about this. This year I tried an experiment. I left the stalks of some (after flowering) and it turns out they will bloom again on those same stems without deadheading. Reseeds readily, but are easy to pull up. Transplant well. The double forms are sterile.
Hope this has helped you some.
CMK
ontnative
14 years ago
To start with, the main difference between these two plants is that campanula persicifolia (peachleaf bellflower) is a perennial, sometimes shortlived, and campanula medium (canterbury bells) is a biennial. If a biennial is grown from seed in year one, it will flower in year two, and then die. You have to keep starting new plants from seed. In my personal experience, they may both lean somewhat, but are usually upright. They are both about 2-3 ft. tall.
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joannemb
Original Author
14 years ago
Thank you both---exactly the information I had spent 1/2 hour searching for online and coming up short. I think both plants are so charming. Think I might give the peachleaf a try in one of my beds. Thanks again
tepelus
14 years ago
I have the peach leaf bellflower, both blue and white, winter sowed them in the winter of '08, and they flowered this year. Very easy to grow, 2-3' tall, and will rebloom on old flower stalks. I had to cut mine all off because they flopped bad, but are sending up more stalks, though much shorter. I don't know what might have caused the flopping, not enough sun, too much water, flowers too heavy, I don't know. But I love 'em!

Karen
leslie197
14 years ago
Peach leaf bellflower flopped badly for me in a highly amended clay bed in full sun. I think the soil may have been too rich and somewhat too heavy for them. Daylilies, balloon flowers, clematis on the fence behind, etc., do well in this bed, as do the hostas and astilbes next to it (same soil but under an open branched tree. They lived for only a few seasons, can't remember exactly, but certainly no more than three years, if that, for me.

I currently have Campanula lactiflora (Milky Bellflower) and glomerata (Clustered Bellflower) in the bed. Both of these lean into the daylilies some but have been there for at least a half dozen years. Glomerata is supposed to be a prolific spreader, but has not been that way for me, merely a decent spreader. Again, I think these plants would like the soil to be leaner and meaner, with less winter/spring wet.

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