One of the smaller varieties of Campanula should ring a bell for rockery or alpine gardeners.

The bell flowers of Campanula come in many sizes upto 15 foot tall in the case of Campanula pyramidalis grown as a pot plant. The smaller low growing plants are more suitable for the Rockery or Alpine garden. The above example is growing in the space at the top of a low retaining wall and has been there very happily for at least 20 years.

Campanula Facts and Tips

• The smallest Campanulas hug the ground and throw up flower stalks only a couple of inches. Campanula censia, C. excisa, C. pulla and C. Pusilla fit this category.
• Campanula gargancia despite its name and C. rupestris have clusters of tiny star flowers that hug the ground.
• All the miniature kinds of Campanula are at home in cool, semi-shaded nooks in the lower levels of the rockery.
• Still diminutive in stature Campanula allioni or C. carpathica have larger saucer shaped flowers upto one foot tall.
• Camapanula rotundifolia has blue, white or double forms.
• Tufted and prostrate forms dived with ease in September. Those with errect stems need to be grown from cuttings.
• Campanula barbata is biennial but the low growing C. aucheri is perennial and both have a long tap root that protects them from bad weather conditions.

Dwarf Campanula by Graham Nichols

Look out for seed of your chosen varieties at  special shows or from the Alpine society membership scheme.

Read Growing Campanula on Gardening Tips