Herb: Trailing Bellflower


Latin name: Campanula poscharskyana


Family: Campanulaceae (Bellflower Family)



Edible parts of Trailing Bellflower:

Leaves - raw or cooked. A pleasant sweet flavour but the leaves are a little tough. It makes a very addition to mixed salads in the winter, though we tend not to eat it much at other times of the year when there are more leaves available. Flowers - raw. Produced in abundance, they have a pleasant sweet flavour and make a decorative addition to the salad bowl.

Description of the plant:



Plant:
Evergreen
Perennial

Height:
25 cm
(9 3/4 inch)

Flowering:
July to
September

Habitat of the herb:

Naturalized on walls and rocky banks in central and southern England.

Other uses of Trailing Bellflower:

A rampantly spreading plant, suitable for ground cover in a sunny position.

Propagation of the herb:

Seed - surface sow spring in a cold frame. The seed usually germinates in 2 - 4 weeks at 18°C. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in a cold frame for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts. Basal cuttings in spring. Harvest the shoots when they are about 10 - 15cm long with plenty of underground stem. Pot them up into individual pots and keep them in light shade in a cold frame or greenhouse until they are rooting well. Plant them out in the summer. Division in spring or autumn. Very easy, the plant can be divided at almost any time of the year.

Cultivation of Trailing Bellflower:

Naturalized on walls and rocky banks in central and southern England.

Medicinal use of the herb:

None known

Known hazards of Campanula poscharskyana:

None known

Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future.