Bellflower: Flower Spotlight
This article comes from our series of flower spotlights, which are adaptations of the newsletters we send to members of our flower share throughout the season. You can see more spotlights by heading here.
Campanula medium, AKA Bellflower, Canterbury Bells, Cup-and-Saucer
An armload of bellflower - nothing better!
Bellflower are some of my favorite blooms. The first year I was growing flowers FOR REAL, I had a crop of bellflower, and it made me cry because I had achieved something so beautiful. I was so grateful to my farm team and to the absolute bounty of nature. These blooms feature large, cup-shaped florets in a radial pattern down the stem. Like most flowers I love, they are taller than wide, with intricate florets and lots of striking detail. They also last FOREVER in the vase - up to two weeks!
In 2023, we overwintered our bellflower, and we had the best year ever. We planted into the hoop house in October ‘22 at 5 rows per bed and about 9-12” between plants. We irrigated until it got cold to establish the plants, and then let them hang out through the 'Persephone period', when day lengths are below 10 hours of daylight. In our latitude, that's about mid-November through early February. They started to show signs of growth after equinox in March, and by early June were huge bushy plants! We added horizontal support netting so they would not topple over. They bloomed prolifically from week 23 (early June) to week 26, and then they were gone! Thankfully, we can store them in the cooler for at least 10 days, so they can be spread out a bit more.
From two 100-foot beds of bellflower, we harvested about 3,600 individual stems, or 360 bunches. I'm most pleased.
In Persian, bellflower is called گل استکانی (gol-e estekani) meaning "glass flower", because the flower resembles a drinking glass. In floriography, it represents gratitude, or faith and constancy. I can't think of a better flower to represent our flower share - your faith and constancy in our farm, and our gratitude for your support.
Pink ones
Detail in white bellflowers
Bellflower boutonnières for a lavender wedding