campanula flower

Question

I am slightly gardening challenged since my gardening space is mostly shade to part shade depending on which side of the house. Anyway, I was so excited when I found Bellflowers, Campanula, at Walmart last spring. I kept the tag, but it does not list the scientific name so that I can give you the specific variety. They did great for a couple of months, and by mid to the end of July, dead. My soil is clay, but I did amend the planting spot for each plant with worm castings (love that stuff!). I did not need to water much last summer because we had plenty of rain for once! I feel that the area was well drained because the garden bed is slightly higher than the surrounding area. I want to try Campanula Portenschlagiana, but I’m worried it will die too! What to do? Also, I tried two areas with these (I bought 4 plants): two were planted in a mostly shaded area (dappled sunlight) and the other two were planted where they got about 3 hours (guessing) full sun per day. I did that on purpose to see where they would flourish the best. Well……

Answer 1

Campanulas generall prefer full sun. Many of them can tolerate light shade (4 hours of morning sun at least). It’s difficult to know what went wrong with your campanulas from last year without actually examining the plants and the growing conditions under which they were growing. If you have any sunny areas (at least 6 hours of sun)on your property, you may want to try to grow campanulas in a container with fresh potting soil instead of the ground. You also may want to contact your local cooperative extension for some guidance on what you could also plant.