Campanula medium
Perennial

USDA Zones: 4 - 8
Light: sun
Form: Flower Spikes
Height:  15 to 36 inches
Width:  10 to 15 inches
Flower Colors: clear blues, pink, and white
Bloom Time: late spring
Special Features:
Beds/Borders
CutFlowers
Cutting
Flowers
Showy Flowers

Canterbury bells is a charming flower that produces spectacular spikes of flowers with attached petals that resemble a saucer. Its blooms can be white, pink, blue, purple, or rose, and it makes a great cut flower. Stems arise from a rosette of slightly hairy, wavy-edged leaves. Growing between 2 and 4 feet tall, most varieties are perfect for the middle to rear or a garden. Canterbury bells have the greatest impact if planted in small groups. Smaller types can be used in containers and rock gardens.

Canterbury bells is a biennial; that is, it blooms in its second year, then dies. It is, however, well worth the wait.

Notable Varieties
'Cup and Saucer' is one of the few biennial types (It takes two growing seasons to bloom, then dies.) It grows to 3 feet tall and comes in pink, blue, white; each flower has a cup and a showy saucer and the entire plant forms a charming pyramidal shape.
'Musical Bells' is a dwarf perennial, 20-inch-tall variety in a mix of colors.
'Russian Pink' is a perennial, 15 inches tall and flowers just 15 weeks after sowing.

Care
Canterbury bells needs rich, well-drained soil and plentiful moisture, and it should be placed in full or light shade in hot summer areas Zones 7 and warmer. Keep seedbeds and young plants well watered. Apply summer mulch to keep roots cool. Apply mulch over the plants in fall for winter protection. Stake tall varieties. Fertilize lightly with a slow-release fertilizer.

Planting
Plant established plants in spring for all zones or in fall for Zones 6 and warmer. Space plants 10 to 15 inches apart in the garden in well-drained, rich soil. They will bloom the following spring.Or start from seed by planting them indoors six to eight weeks before your region's last frost date in all zones or in early fall in Zones 6 or warmer. Transplant directly in the garden when plants are an inch or two high. Space 10 to 15 inches. They will bloom the following spring.

Pests and Diseases
Leaf spot, powdery mildew, stem rot, crown rot, aphid, and slugs can all cause problems.