2010 Campanula seedlings

[Lori S.]

Here's a thread for Campanula buffs!  

What campanulas are you trying this year?  Here's my line-up to date (those worth showing at this stage anyway).  All pots are 2 1/4" square; all grown indoors under lights; all were easy, warm germinators.

1) C. argyrotricha  NARGS - I'm not sure if this one is what it was said to be; doesn't seem to match Graham Nicholls' description in Dwarf Campanulas, so we shall see, of course!

2) C. hawkinsiana   Pavelka; 1700m, Pindos, Greece; many-stemmed short lived perennial, 5-10cm, many purple-violet flowers; screes, stoney slopes; 2006 seed.  Was actually listed as C. kowkinsiana but must be C. hawkinsiana??

3) C. kirpicznikovii Pavelka; 1300m, C.Caucasus, Russia; dark green dentate leaves stems 15-20cm, big creamy flowers, pale yellow buds, vertical limestone rocks; in C.betulifolia section; 2004 seed.  I grew this once before; biennial; hardy but did not reseed for me.

4) C. seraglio   NARGS

5) C. stricta ssp. alidaghensis  Pavelka; 2000m, Mescit Dag, Turkey; densely tufted, scabrous leaves, erect stems, 5-15cm, many blue flowers in spike, stoney summit ridges; 2008 seed.

6) C. topaliana  Pavelka;1600m, Parnass Mts., Greece; silvery hairy cordate leaves, dentate margins, many blue flowers on decumbent stems; rocks; monocarpic; 2007 seed.

7) C. bessenginica  Pavelka; 2500m, C. Caucasus, Russia; compact cushions, leaves narrow dentate, solitary violet flowers, acidic rocks; 2004 seed.

[McDonough]

Lori, I don't know most of those you have germinated, except for photos I've seen of C. topaliana, where it looks AMAZING.  I am a closet Campanulaphile, and I'll even look the other way that the two worst weeds I have in my garden are C. takesimana  (I think I shall lose the battle on this one, and C. punctata; gorgeous but horribly invasive, but cannot tolerate drought conditions, which takesimana laughs at!  Campanula takesimana wants to dominate the world.  This situation is analogous to Allium, where a few really bad apples can spoil the barrel, but the genus (both Allium and Campanula) is huge, and full of plant delights, many of which are challenging to grow and keep alive.  I hadn't yet responded to your post on C. collina... just refound it recently... Holy Cow is that a fantastic one

I wish you luck on all your Campanula trials.  Back in the late 1970s I subscribed to the MacPhail and Watson seed collecting expedition to Turkey, got a number of Campanula, all were choice goodies, although none were long lived for me.  Fun while it lasted.

[Jeremy]

Lori, all mine were sown in 1-1/2" cells and kept outdoors to stratify until last week, when I brought them in under lights just because I needed the outdoor shelf space for my troughs. So they are only at cotyledon stage or have only one set of true leaves, and therefore could still succumb to damping-off: I don't consider them to have succeeded yet.
I have seraglio, choruhensis and betulifolia, all of the betulifolia group. I'm growing portenschlagiana because it's not invasive for me as it seems to be for others. I want more! And I want some to give away. And I'm trying saxifraga and waldsteiniana because they're so beautiful and I don't have any at the moment, although I've got a whole pot of aucheri and I've never had that and saxifraga at the same time and it will be interesting to compare these two members of the tridentata group.

Two new ones - to me - are sosnowskyi and lateriflora. (All these are from the NARGS SEEDEX, btw). I think the latter was listed as coming from a BBG expedition to...Georgia(?) I'll have to look it up.

The one thing I'm excited about is seed from last year's exchange which was direct-sown into a trough and didn't germinate all last year finally germinated this spring! It came as "ex Bumblebee", seed from a hybrid, so who knows what variations I'll get. Bumblebee is piperi x lasiocarpa, two western American species.

And these are real plants with several sets of leaves, not tiny seedlings. As a matter of fact, I fear there are too many of them in the trough and I should transplant some. Graham Nicholls says it's easy to do, they're very vigorous.

[Lori S.]

Nice selection, Jeremy.

So they are only at cotyledon stage or have only one set of true leaves, and therefore could still succumb to damping-off: I don't consider them to have succeeded yet.

No, definitely not - mine won't have "succeeded" either until they winter over!  We've only made it through the very first step!    (So far, so good, though!)  I do think it's interesting and possibly useful, though, to create a seedling photo gallery, as questions often arise on whether seedlings are "correct" or not... and in a couple of years, I should know if these are, or not, LOL!

And these are real plants with several sets of leaves, not tiny seedlings. As a matter of fact, I fear there are too many of them in the trough and I should transplant some. Graham Nicholls says it's easy to do, they're very vigorous.

I doubt you'll have any problems transplanting (although outdoor conditions add some risk) - I find seedlings to be very tough and resilient to transplanting, in general. 

[Todd Boland]

I'm not sure how many campanula I currently have...at least 20.  I'm delighted that collina survived the winter and is just starting to show leaves.  I have several species which are probably just varieties of rotundifolia...I'll have to show them later when they bloom and you can be the judges!

Lori,I don't recognize a single species you are growing!

Meanwhile, Campanula for this year are limited:

C. hondoensis
C. makaschvelii
C. choruhensis
C. autraniana
C. anomala

[McDonough]

Meanwhile, Campanula for this year are limited:

C. hondoensis
C. makaschvelii
C. choruhensis
C. autraniana
C. anomala

I would advise caution with Campunula punctata var. hondoensis, yes it is a punctata variety.  Todd, in your moist climate, this will probably be as much a thug as regular punctata is.  The nursery listings I just checked, say that it is a "vigorous" grower.  Maybe grow it in a pot, and do not let any seed spill. Here's a link.

http://www.joycreek.com/012-044.htm

[Todd Boland]

That would explain why those seedlings are so vigorous!  Some gardeners find punctata to be a nuisance here yet I have not had much luck with them or takesimana.  They don't seem to like my garden.  Wish I could say the same for C. rapunculoides!  I got that pest as seed labelled as Adenophora bulleyana.

[McDonough]

That would explain why those seedlings are so vigorous!  Some gardeners find punctata to be a nuisance here yet I have not had much luck with them or takesimana.  They don't seem to like my garden.  Wish I could say the same for C. rapunculoides!  I got that pest as seed labelled as Adenophora bulleyana.

Again, it is always interesting to see what becomes weedy in one person's garden, and not at all weedy, if not recalcitrant, in someone else's garden.  Campanula takesimana is like a medusa, attempt pulling it out, you'll get some of the root out, but will leave behind 10-20 stretchy elastic-like white hair roots, each of which happily grows a new plant.  Whack off a medusa head, and 2 or 10 more grow out of it.  Also, the seed of takesimana are plentiful, light tiny flakes that blow around and seed into everything everywhere, into the middle of custions, even seeding into the lawn.  After 15 years trying to eradicate C. punctata, I think I finally succeeded, but in large part due to its intolerance for drought.

Note to myself:  do not grow C. rapunculoides, and be wary of Adenophora bulleyana from the Seedex

[Lori S.]

After years of trying to figure out conclusively whether my seed-grown, spready Campanula punctata was really that or was C. takesimana (and thinking I had finally done it based on the presence/absence of winged petioles... though I forget which way it went now), I was surprised to find in Graham Nicholls' Dwarf Campanulas, that he considers C. takesimana to be a synonym of C. punctata!  (Removes one tiny, niggling irritation from my existence, but surprising nonetheless...)

[Lori S.]

Wish I could say the same for C. rapunculoides!  I got that pest as seed labelled as Adenophora bulleyana.

Ouch! 
It has been vice-versa for me... have raised a couple of big, burly adenophoras that seemed bent on world domination, while I was innocently expecting fairly modest little rock-garden campanulas.  That reminds me that I need to check out a couple this summer, that in no way resemble the campanulas they were supposed to be.... have a bad feeling about them, and will definitely be dissecting some flowers to see!  At the same time, I find it has been difficult to find a key to adenophora, to find out what species they actually are.  Does anyone know of a key, electronic or printed?   (I'd at least like to have the satisfaction of knowing what they are before I compost them!   )

[Todd Boland]

Lori, your Adenophora sound an awful-lot like C. rapunculoides.  I don't think any Adenophora are suppose to be bullies.

[Lori S.]

No, definitely not C. rapunculoides - that one I know well (not that I've ever allowed it into the yard); it's even a common escape into the semi-wild here.  One was over 3' tall, late-blooming, not too overly aggressive from spreading roots but enough that combined with really heavy self-seeding, it became a pest.  (Also the flower dissection, from the differences of the base of the ovary, said adenophora.)

[McDonough]

I was surprised to find in Graham Nicholls' Dwarf Campanulas, that he considers C. takesimana to be a synonym of C. punctata!  (Removes one tiny, niggling irritation from my existence, but surprising nonetheless...)

I've grown C. punctata and its varieties and color forms, and find that while punctata and takesimana have a similar "disposition", I could always instantly tell them apart. So, indeed, surprising to see what you say about Graham Nicholls offering the Korean C. takesimana as a synonym of punctata.  At the very least, one should be a subspecies of the other.  My impossible-to-be-eradicated C. takesimana grows a meter tall... I upload one photo (although I've taken many, my photos are still alphanumerically labelled thus hard to find at the moment)... don't be fooled by the lavish lusciousness of those hanging bells, this species is a monstrously aggressive.

[Hoy]

My experience is that C. rapunculoides is more to fear than punctata/takesimana. And C. lactiflora pop up in every pot I have, in the greenhouse too, but is easier to remove.

[Lori S.]

Here is a question for the Campanulaphiles out there... Does C. zoysii require stratification, and if so, warm or cold?