Campanula americana
A tall, robust native annual or biennial with a straight, unbranched stalk bears light blue to rarely white tubular flowers (with a white ring at the center) that bloom July–October and are primarily pollinated by bumblebees.
Common Names
Tall Bellflower, American Bellflower, Bellflower
Summary
Campanula americana, the American Bellflower, is an upright native wildflower of eastern North America that typically grows 3–6 feet tall with a clumping, erect habit and blue-violet, five-petaled flowers arranged in tall racemes, blooming roughly June through September; it inhabits moist open woods, meadows, streambanks, and ditches, and has alternate lance-shaped to oblong-elliptic leaves, often self-seeding to naturalize.
Cultivation favors rich, moist, well-drained soils in part shade, with tolerance for more sun in cooler summers and a requirement for regular moisture; spacing of 12–36 inches helps maintain vigor. It attracts bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, making it suitable for native plantings, pollinator gardens, and natural landscapes such as meadows, riparian zones, woodland edges, and rain gardens; propagation is by seed, which can germinate in about four weeks, indoors 6–8 weeks before last frost or outdoors in late spring, and plants are hardy in USDA zones 4–8.
Lifecycle
Annual, Biennial, Perennial
Height
3-6 feet
Spread
12-24 inches
Hardiness Zones
Zones 4a-8b
Sunlight Requirements
Ideally partial shade; tolerates full sun.
Soil Type
Moist, well-drained soil rich in organic matter with neutral pH around 6–8
Soil Drainage
Well-drained soil
Soil pH
6.0-8.0, neutral
Bloom Color
Blue
Bloom Time
Summer
Foliage Color
Green
Fall Foliage Color
Blue-Green, Reddish
Leaf Lifecycle
Deciduous
Growth Rate
Medium
Seasons of Interest
Spring, Summer, and Fall.
Propagation Methods
Seeds (seed propagation; self-seeding)
Attracts Wildlife
Attracts bees and butterflies, attracts other pollinators
Taxonomy
- Taxonomic Rank
- Species
- Author
- L.
- Publication
- Sp. Pl. : 164 (1753)
Superior Taxa
- Kingdom
- Plantae
- Subkingdom
- Pteridobiotina
- Phylum
- Angiosperms
- Order
- Asterales
- Family
- Campanulaceae
- Genus
- Campanula
Synonyms
Phyteuma americanum Campanula acuminata Campanula americana var. illinoensis Campanula americana var. subulata Campanula americana f. tubuliflora Campanula asteroides Campanula declinata Campanula illinoensis Campanula nitida Campanula obliqua Campanula pauciflora Campanula planiflora Campanula subulata Campanulastrum americanum Campanula americana var. americana Campanula americana f. americana Campanulastrum americanum var. illinoense Campanula americana f. albiflora Specularia americana