Photo/Illustration: Michelle Gervais
Richard Hawke is plant evaluation manager at the Chicago Botanic Garden, where he conducts long-term trials on dozens of ornamental plants. For the past 22+ years, he has evaluated more than 117 different campanulas in their comparative trials.
Besides observing their ornamental traits, he regularly monitored the plants to see how well they grew and adapted to environmental and soil conditions. He also kept a close eye on any disease or pest problems and assessed plant injury or losses over the winter.
You’ll find Richard’s top picks and why he likes them in “Campanulas you can’t live without” in the May/June 2014 issue of Fine Gardening (#157). We couldn’t print the full results of his study in the magazine, but you can download the entire list of evaluated campanulas here.
More than 40 campanulas were unable to be rated in the trial because they failed to survive more than two years. Here is the list of those plants and a brief explanation of what led to their demise:
| Campanula ‘Kifu’ (1) | Plants were weak and declined quickly the first summer. |
| Campanula ‘Milkshake’ (1) | Weak plants the first year and severe crown loss in winter. Gradually died out the second spring. |
| Campanula ‘Summertime Blues’ (1) | Weak plants the first summer and died the first winter. |
| Campanula carpatica ‘Blue Uniform’ (1) | Plants gradually died out over two winters. |
| Campanula carpatica ‘Silberschale’ (2) | First planting died in winter. The second planting was weak and died in the first winter. |
| Campanula garganica ‘Dickson’s Gold’ (3) | Three attempts to grow this yellow-leaved cultivar, but sunscald weakened the plants and they died the first winter. |
| Campanula garganica ‘Major’ (1) | Plants did well for three summers but were eventually overrun by C. punctata. |
| Campanula kinokawamae (1) | Plants declined steadily the first summer and died in winter. |
| Campanula lactiflora ‘Alba’ (1) | Died in the first winter. |
| Campanula latifolia (2) | Two attempts to grow this plant but both groups died the first winter. |
| Campanula latifolia ‘Brantwood’ (1) | Died in the first winter. |
| Campanula latifolia ‘Gloaming’ (1) | Died in the first winter. |
| Campanula latiloba ‘Alba’ (1) | Weak plants when planted and gradually died during first summer. |
| Campanula latiloba ‘Hidcote Amethyst’ (2) | Root rot caused many plants to die the first summer. Weakened plants died in winter. |
| Campanula latiloba ‘Highcliffe Variety’ (1) | Lived through one winter, but weak plants died in the second summer. |
| Campanula persicifolia ‘Blue’ (1) | Half the plants died in the first winter, and remaining plants died from root rot the following summer. |
| Campanula persicifolia ‘Charlie’s White’ (1) | Weak plants when planted and gradually died during first summer. |
| Campanula persicifolia ‘Chettle Charm’ (3) | Three attempts to grow this cultivar, but plants died from root rot or in winter each time. |
| Campanula persicifolia ‘Gardenia’ (2) | Two attempts to grow this plant, but both groups died in the first winter. |
| Campanula persicifolia ‘Gawen’ (2) | Two attempts to grow this plant, but both groups died in the first summer due to root rot. |
| Campanula persicifolia ‘George Chiswell’ (1) | Plants survived the first winter but were weak the second year and died the following winter. |
| Campanula persicifolia ‘Grandiflora Alba’ (3) | Three attempts to grow this cultivar, but all plants died from root rot or in winter each time. |
| Campanula persicifolia ‘Grandiflora Caerulea’ (3) | Three attempts to grow this cultivar, but all plants died from root rot or in winter each time. |
| Campanula persicifolia ‘Hetty’ (1) | Died from root rot in the first summer. |
| Campanula persicifolia ‘Moerheimii’ (1) | Died in the first winter. |
| Campanula persicifolia ‘Pride of Exmouth’ (4) | Four attempts to grow this cultivar, but all plants died from root rot or in winter each time. |
| Campanula persicifolia ‘Telham Beauty’ (2) | Two attempts to grow this plant, but both groups died in the first winter. |
| Campanula persicifolia ‘Victoria’ (1) | Plants died during the first summer. |
| Campanula persicifolia ‘Wortham Belle’ (1) | Plants died during the first summer. |
| Campanula persicifolia ‘Yellow Leaf’ (1) | Weak plants died during the first summer. |
| Campanula persicifolia ssp. sessiliflora ‘Alba’ (1) | Weak plants died during the first summer. |
| Campanula persicifolia ssp. sessiliflora ‘Percy Piper’ (1) | Weak plants died during the first summer. |
| Campanula persicifolia var. alba (2) | Two attempts to grow this plant, but both groups died in the first winter. |
| Campanula portenschlagiana ‘Aurea’ (1) | Sunscald weakened the plants, and they died in the first winter. |
| Campanula punctata ‘Flashing Lights’ (1) | Plants were weakened after the first winter and eventually overrun by other C. punctata cultivars. |
| Campanula punctata ‘Hot Lips’ (2) | Two attempts to grow this plant, but both groups died in the first winter. |
| Campanula punctata ‘Pantaloons’ (1) | Severe crown dieback in the first winter weakened the plants, which were overrun by other C. punctata cultivars. |
| Campanula punctata ‘White Bells’ (1) | Evaluation interrupted due to construction but not retested. |
| Campanula punctata f. rubriflora ‘Beetroot’ (1) | Evaluation interrupted due to construction but not retested. |
| Campanula pyramidalis (1) | Died in the first winter. |
| Campanula pyramidalis ‘Alba’ (1) | Root rot and winter losses over two years. |
| Campanula pyramidalis ‘Blue’ (1) | Plant health declined in late summer, and all plants died before winter. |
| Campanula pyramidalis ‘White’ (1) | Root rot killed all plants in the first summer. |
| Campanula rotundifolia var. alba (1) | Died in the first winter. |
| Campanula sarmatica (1) | All plants died in the second winter. |
| Campanula sibirica (2) | Two attempts to grow this plant, but both groups died in the first winter. |
| Campanula takesimana ‘Alba’ (1) | Few of the plants were white flowered. Eventually overrun by pink-flowered plants. |
| Campanula takesimana ‘Eugenie’ (1) | Trial terminated because adjacent C. punctata cultivars quickly smothered these plants. |
| Campanula trachelium (1) | Gradually died over three winters. |
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