HAREBELL BELLFLOWER Campanula rotundifolia
Campanula rotundifolia, the harebell, is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the bellflower family Campanulaceae. It has a circumpolar distribution in the Northern Hemisphere, tending in Europe from the north Mediterranean to the arctic.
In Scotland, it is often known as the bluebell. Elsewhere in Britain, bluebell refers to Hyacinthoides non-scripta, and in North America, bluebell refers to Virginia bluebell. Campanula rotundifolia was historically also known by several other Names including blawort, hair-bell, lady's thimble, witch's bells, and witch's thimbles.
Campanula rotundifolia is a perennial species of flowering plant, a slender, prostrate to erect herb, spreading by seed and rhizomes. The basal leaves are long-stalked, rounded to heart-shaped, usually slightly toothed. Leaves on the flowering stems are long and narrow and the upper ones are unstemmed. Many flowers are borne on very slender pedicels. The flowers usually have five (occasionally 4, 6 or 7) pale to mid violet-blue petals fused together into a bell shape, about 12–30 mm (15⁄32–1 3⁄16 in) long and five long.
The flowering period is long, and varies by location. In the British Isles, harebell flowers from July to November. In Missouri, it flowers from May to August; in Minnesota, from June to October.
Harebells are native to dry, nutrient-poor grassland and heaths. The plant often successfully colonises cracks in walls or cliff faces and stable dunes.
Type: Hardy perennial
Height: 20"
Location: Sun or part
Hardiness zones: 3-8
Seeds per pack: 10
Germination: As with many perennial seeds, these seeds require a period of moist cold to help them break dormancy. This is done by giving them a cold 'winter' period (artificial or natural), and then a warming to simulate 'spring', and time to grow! Here's how this can be done:
Obtain a planting container that has holes in the bottom for excess water to drain. Place the seeds just under the surface of your growing medium, and water. Place your container in a cold area (but not freezing, perhaps a refrigerator) for 4-6 weeks. Once the cold period is completed, place the container at room temperature for them to germinate. Be sure to keep the soil moist during this entire germination period. Seedlings will sprout a few weeks, or occasionally several months, after the warming period.
If you are planting your seeds in late winter or spring, these seeds can be planted outdoors while it is still cool out (once the ground is workable and unfrozen), to receive the cold period naturally in the garden.
