Lady Bells?

[Rowan]

saw on P.Allen Smith something called Lady Bells (Latin was something like Adenophora ?) which he claimed was a favorite shade loving perennial

:unsure: does anyone have seeds? :D :unsure: :D

oh, and info too ^_^

[gardenlady]

no seeds, but they do grow well and look really lovely. nice addition to a shady area.

[Phia]

I sent the seeds I had off a month ago. If you can wait for next year, I will have seeds then.

[Ginny42]

I found some seed last spring at walmart. I think the packet was about 99 cents. I had great germination, but the plants were still on the small side when winter hit, I hope they make it. I'll keep a lookout for you. ;) I've heard people say they are invasive, but that doesn't bother me. :D

[digiflower]

Don't have any seeds ^_^ but I found this info.
Adenophora liliifolia / Lady Bells
sun? ? Full sun, light shade
height? ? 1.5 ft.
width? ? 3-4 ft.
water? ? Regular
hardiness? ? -30?
origin? ? Europe

This perennial is similar to campanulas in appearance of both the flower and leaf. Lightly fragrant bell shaped flowers.

They sure a pretty. :wub:

[mla2ofus]

I've heard that they reseed vigorously.

[MrSeedy]

I have the Adenophora confusa , which get up to 36in. and taller and though they're very pretty , they are invasive both from runners and seeds, and since they get very large and deep tap roots when mature , they're hard to remove once mature. The unwanted seedlings have a habit of comming up in other clump forming perennials , so those are hard to remove without disturbing the roots on the plants they're growing amongst, but those by themselves can be dug up if you dig deeply. Here's a picture of the flower, and they are "tough" and easy plants both for shade and sun.

[moonbaby]

Oh My Gosh Gary! :wub: :wub: Those are "To die For"! :wub: :wub: They could come and invade my shade anytime! :P :D

[MrSeedy]

In my typical fashion lately, I completely forgot in my efforts to remove most of the tops before they went to seed this year, I'd forgotten that several folks had mentioned wanting some of the seeds, so it will be next year til I can collect some seeds providing I don't forget again!! Seems they can flower the first year from an early indoor start if my memory is working??

[moonbaby]

I just know they are Gorgeous! :D

[grindle]

:mellow: wow got to get me some of those

[erdine]

MrS, those are gorgeous. I"ll be looking for the seeds around here too.

[Sneezie]

:rolleyes: Very beautiful M.S. I can almost smell them! :wub:

[boo]

They are beautiful, but I think you guys are nuts for wanting them. B) Those runners are nearly impossible to get rid of, which isn't a probablem as long as you don't mind them taking over an area. Like MrSeedy said they will pop up all over the place.

[moonbaby]

HEy Boo... Are you forgeting my Hillside? There's lots of room to take over! :lol: They like shade right?

[MrSeedy]

I have to say these days, after trying to rid myself of many of them , I sometimes just take the attitude to "forget about it" , when possible, or they'd drive me nuts and I know at this point of trying to get rid of them for years now, that it's nearly hopeless, so I may just have to learn to live with them!! On the other hand with my very poor sandy soil, I look at any plant using up nutrients and water , where it's not wanted, especially amongst various clumping perennials, which may be struggling for their fair share of both water and nutrients, I do get very frustrated with all those thousands of unwanted ladybells.

[boo]

Moonbaby, mine are in shade & part sun.

Actually I think they would be everywhere if I let them. I think its great that you guys actually have room to let them grow. They are beautiful but they won't mind. :ph34r: Once you have them they will take over any area they want. They are considered invasive to some. A few pots were donated to help the greenhouse and the Master Naturalist was disgusted. :ph34r: We ended up throwing them out after he told us how bad they are competing with other plants.

[moonbaby]

I have an area they can run wild in! I don't think they can compete with a 70 ft. poplar tree! :lol: There is nothing there but that and it is sooooo steep ...even my mountain goat feet have trouble ;) :lol: !

[Rowan]

running a bit wild sounds okay to me and if they'll compete with and drown out the poison ivy (which is all that's currently growing in the spot I wanted to put them) then I say "more power to 'em" :D


Mr. Seedy, I love the pic you posted!

When I was a little girl, at one house we lived in, there was a huge 200 yr old evergreen tree I used to play under, the arching branches were just right for a hidey-house...and on one side where the ground sloped away to a spring there were flowers, which looked exactly like these Lady bells do (I thought for a long time they must have been blue bells but could never find the right bulbs -- now I know why :lol: ). I used to make little "stick people" to play with using twigs and grasses and stuff and I would dress them in flowers .... the Lady Bell flowers always made great skirts (and hair if you remove half the flower)..... I remember them as being scarce But I rather guess that must be why the patch was dying out -- I picked off too many of the flowers :lol:

[MaryG]

OMG - those are the things I've been trying to get rid of for years and years. I made the mistake of letting them grow (they were volunteers) one year in my flowerbeds and by the end of summer they had completely choked everything else out! I'm still trying to dig the roots up every year and it's an endless job.

I will say though - they make great long-lasting cut flowers in bouquets.

[MrSeedy]

Though Ladybells most likely have been in cultivation for many years, for some reason the year I bought the seeds for mine from Thompson and Morgan, there were a number of questions about them even with the advertisement for them, as if they weren't very well known, and T&M couldnt' give many details about them. It only said they originate in Central Asia and even the hardiness was in question, so I almost thought they'd be very difficult to grow. Notttttttt!! In general those plants that are marginal for an area becuase of lack of cold hardiness, or even lack of heat tollerance for hotter locations, you'll find they're never really invasive.
Unfortunately, I've found they are indeed very tollerant of very cold conditions and even dryness, so they're a problem here in zone 5, but they do tend to burn a bit in full sun and when overly dry in very hot weather.

[DigginIt]

They tolerate shade. I've got a patch of them, and my neighbor makes fun of me for keeping them because she says they are a ditch weed. Well, they are - they like moisture more than dry areas, and are often seen growing wild in ditches. But I keep a 2 small patches. One is group is mixed together with sundrops as a "tapestry garden" - a kind description for when an invasive variety does what it does best, invading into another planting. They look really good together because the yellow Sundrops and the purple Lady Bells bloom at the same time and the colors are very complementary.



DigginIt

[Phia]

DigginIt, I agree with you. I, too, love my little patch of Ladybells.

[donybee]

My hillside could use that plant, I'm getting tired of having to mow the weeds. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[DigginIt]

Hey DonyBee,

When we get together to swap some sedums, later this spring, you can get a clump from me. Put that on your want list. If you want a more aggressive spreader, I have some obedient plant too. I'll let you look at them both, if you come "shopping."

DigginIt