Campanula pyramidalis

'Chimney Bellflower'

[Ex. Nanos 1100 m., Slovenia]

Campanulaceae: a short-lived perennial herbaceous plant growing up to 1.5m tall. Found growing on many different soil types, on a wide pH range, preferring sunny or partially shaded areas. The flowers are bell-shaped, blue, 3–4 cm diameter. Blooming from July-August. The leaves are broad ovate on the lower part of the stem, slender lanceolate on the upper part of the stem. Native to south-eastern Europe in Italy and the western Balkans. Naturalized in southern Britain.

USES:

The leaves can be eaten raw or cooked. They have a mild slightly sweet flavour. The flowers can also be eaten raw, and add a nice decorative addition to salads, the flowers have a pleasant sweet flavour.

GROWING INFORMATION:

Surface sow seeds in spring in a cold frame. The seed usually germinates in 2-4 weeks at 18°C. It is best to sow the seed as soon as it is ripe in the autumn in a greenhouse to give the plant a long season of growth, otherwise sow it in late winter. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out into their permanent positions in the summer.

Succeeds in most fertile well-drained soils, though it prefers a moist but very well-drained rich sandy loam and a neutral or alkaline soil. Plants are impatient of drought and of too much sunshine, growing best in a shady position. This species is not hardy in the colder areas of the country, it tolerates temperatures down to between -5 and -10°C. Plants are best grown in a greenhouse in Britain, they are seldom fully happy outdoors here and do not usually open their flowers properly.

Good bee plant.

HARVESTED: 2019

 
APPROX. 100+ SEEDS