Little bells of joy

Campanulas are easy-growing bell-shaped plants with many varieties that will suit difficult parts of the garden, from dry walls to shadier corners, says

- Camilla Phelps

ROMANTIC, a little bit wild and unruly, campanulas seem to have evaded fashionable gardens for a while. It's hard to work out why they seem to have lost out to other cottage-garden favourites like foxgloves, alliums, and geraniums, for example, as they have many desirable qualities to bring to your garden.

Campanulas come in many and varied forms, and you might also know them as Canterbury bells, harebells, bellflowers, fairies' thimbles, and other old-fashioned country-style names.

There's a lot of variety

From annuals and biennials to perennials, with semi-evergreen types in between, their delightful bell-shaped flowers range in colours from white through pink to violet and deepest purple, often blooming continuously right through the summer months. Some can be a little keen to spread - via seed or rhizomes - but they are largely well behaved and don't need cossetting beyond a little bit of support sometimes. Also, they are not troublesome in terms of pests and disease.

So, if you're abiding by the right plant, right place' principle - which is, after all, the most sensible approach to choosing new plants - do think about campanulas. You will certainly find one to suit your garden. There are campanulas for the driest of spots, like an old wall or pat,h and others that will grace borders and containers from sun to semi-shade, and they are not fussy about soil types, apart from the most acidic.