campanula chaos

hi i've got a couple of clumps of campanula lactiflora pritchards variety. they are beautiful with their light purple flowers, but they are to tall (around 1.8m in height) in the border that they are positioned in. i'd like to have shorter varieties (around 1.2m) recommended to me if possible thank you.

 

Hi Graham. What are you feeding them on? Most sources say they are only 2 to 3 feet tall.

Have a look here CAMPANULA - . This is one of my favorite sites. Bob Brown is a Chelsea gold medalist and knows his perennials. He was also a schoolmaster and likes to rate them on a scale of 1 to 10 - though I notice that he doesn't seem to be doing that now. I have found some of his best rated plants to be superb. He quotes a number of lactiflora that are shorter than 'Pritchard's Variety'.

But do you really have 'Pritchard's Variety' or could you have the species?

 

Graham I have been thinking about this. I looked in a book by Tracy DiSabato-Aust - an America woman who suggests giving the Chelsea chop to many different plants. She also quotes 2 1/2 feet for 'Prichard's Variety'.

I suspect that you don't have the true 'Pritchard's Variety' - but have either the lactiflora species which reaches about 6 feet, or more likely a plant grown from a seed from 'Pritchard's Variety'. Such seeds don't normally come true and can revert to the species. They shouldn't be sold under that name, but I suspect that the practice could be widespread. I am also growing the same plant, but mine hasn't reached maturity yet, so I don't know if I will have the same problem or not.

Consequently your solution may be just to get another plant from a reputable source. But there is no guarantee that it will be the genuine plant.

Or, you could try the Chelsea chop. This is usually quoted for Sedums, and consists of cutting the plant back by 1/3 to 1/2 at the time of the Chelsea flower show. The result is that the plant doesn't grow quite as tall and consequently doesn't flop. It will delay the flowering for a couple of weeks or so - but otherwise it should flower for just as long.

In her book, Tracy DiWhatsit above suggests that you can use this technique for many different perennials. But you mustn't cut them back after they start to produce flower buds - or you could interfere with the flowering. She writes - Campanula lactiflora ...... cutting off 4 to 5 inches in early May creates fuller plants. Cutting back in late June or early July ..... proved ineffective ... it did produce compact plants .... but they never flowered.

 

Thank you, sorry for the late reply.
The plants in question i have inherited when i took charge of the gardens 2 yrs ago.
There is a large detailed plan of the whole garden (which was made from scratch in 2006).
The plans are flawed in many areas, I guess the campanulas are wrong as well.
Only two varietys where planted in the whole garden the other being Campanula Postenschlagiana, could this be the correct variety?
Thank you for your help.

 

Hi Graham.

I am sure your Campanula Postenschlagiana will be the genuine article. Mine are still in flower now. Its a lovely plant, which I use for edging. They flower for a long time and come back in the autumn as well. And are so easy to propagate by just dividing the clump. Most Campanulas don't flower for that long - so, I think, you have the best two there.

 

your welcome to look at my photos i have only just added

 

Lovely pictures Graham - your garden is a bit bigger than mine. :D

 

thank you peter unfortunatly it isn't my garden, but i get the pleasure of working in it all year