Campanula topaliana

Janet Novak's picture

Lori Skulski's post of a Campanula topaliana foliage (https://www.nargs.org/forum/alpines-september) has inspired me to post a photo of my plant in bloom this May. It was gorgeous from mid-May to mid-June, but, since it was a biennial, it is now gone. And despite my efforts to play pollinator with a pipecleaner, it didn't set seed.

The plant above the Campanula is Aethionema grandiflorum Pulchellum Group, for which I have the NARGS seed exchange to thank.

An amusing thing about this plant: it pressed its stems against the stone wall it was growing in. And I do mean actively pressed: when I pulled a stem forward, it would spring back, so this plant must have been expending energy to push its stems against the wall. Why would a plant do this -- trying to protect its stems from browsing animals?

Campanula topaliana