Common Name: bellflower
Type: Herbaceous perennial
Family: Campanulaceae
Native Range: Caucasus
Zone: 5 to 8
Height: 1.00 to 1.50 feet
Spread: 0.75 to 1.00 feet
Bloom Time: July to August
Bloom Description: Gray-blue
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium
Maintenance: Low
Flower: Showy, Good Cut
Tolerate: Rabbit
Culture
Easily grown in average, medium moisture, well-drained soil in full sun to part shade. Full sun is best in cool northern summer climates. Prefers part shade in hot summer climates. Needs regular moisture.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Campanula sarmatica, commonly known as Georgian bellflower, is a small, taprooted, clump-forming perennial which is native to sub-alpine rocky and stony slopes in the Caucasus Mountains where this plant is now endangered in the wild. From rosettes of wavy-edged, pubescent, gray-green leaves (to 3” long) rise 20” tall flowering stems in mid to late summer topped by loose, one-sided, nearly naked racemes of nodding, soft lavender-lilac to gray-blue bell-shaped flowers (to 1 5/8” long) each having long lobes which flare or recurve at the tips. Smaller stem leaves are densely tomentose.
Genus name comes from the Latin campana meaning bell in reference to the bell-shaped flowers.
Specific epithet comes from Samartia (area from the northern shores of the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea including areas of the Caucasus Mountains where this bellflower is native) which was dominated by the Sarmatian tribes from, in round figures, the 4th century BC to the 4th century AD.
Common name is in reference to Georgia which is a republic in the native territory of this plant abutting the northeastern corner of the Black Sea.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems. Snails and slugs are occasional visitors.
Uses
Group or mass. Best in rock gardens or border fronts. Endangered plant that may be difficult to locate in commerce.