Great Bell flower

Great Bell-flower (Platycodon) - Perennials, allied to the Bell-flowers. P. grandiflora is a handsome Siberian perennial, hardy in light dry soils, but impatient of damp and undrained situations, where its thick fleshy roots decay. Sometimes this begins below and spreads upward, but it generally begins above and spreads downward, the plant rotting off at the neck. The flowers are 2 to 3 inches across, deep blue with a slight slaty shade, and in clusters at the end of each branch. A rich loamy soil and an open situation are best for it. Propagate by seeds, which can be readily procured. The young shoots, if taken off when about 3 inches long, in spring, and placed in a gentle bottomheat, will strike, but not freely. The plant is a bad one to divide—division often resulting in failure—and if attempted must be carried out in May, when the growth has just commenced. P. autumnale, or chinense, from China and Japan, is taller and more robust than P. grandiflorum, with narrower leaves, but more dense, and its flowers, though smaller, are pretty evenly distributed along the upper half of the stems. Besides a white variety, it has a tendency to become semidouble, by a sort of "hose-in-hose" re-duplication of the corolla, similar to what occurs in many of our Campanulas. The dwarf, Mariesi, from Japan, is distinct in habit, with rich blue flowers.

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