Bellflower or Campanula Flower

Bellflower is also called Campanula, whatever kind of flower garden you have; there is a bellflower for you. The flowers vary considerably in shape and size; though most are blue colors, however some are violet or purple, and some are white. They are extremely beautiful in pastel gardens, with roses, or just anywhere you want to a blue accent. Some grow on plants of mid- border height, others on low cushions, and others on long, trailing stems. Most bloom in early summer, but some, especially the low growing varieties will continue to flower, though less heavily, throughout the season. 

Campanula persicifolia “Grandiflora”, the popular peach leaved bellflower, is available in blue varieties such as “Telham Beauty” and a white one “Alba”. It grows almost two to three feet tall. C. glomerata also grows up to two feet; its variety “Superba” is a wonderful rich purple, “Crown of Snow” is white. Moreover low growing bellflowers include C. carpatica, blue or white, six to 10 inches and C. poscharskyana, lavender, 12 inches tall but sprawling C. rotundifolia is blue and one to two feet, but he variety “Olympica” is more compact. This last species can be eddy in some gardens. 

Well, if you really like to grow this beautiful bellflower, then the plant like sun but will do well in light shade, particularly in hot climates. Also give some moist, moderately fertile, well-drained soil. Sometimes slug control may be necessary. Weed out the invasive types as needed; cut back tall varieties after flowering to encourage them to bloom again. Source: Charismatic Planet

Peony Flower

Peony flowers are classified as “doubles” huge round balls with many petals, however semi-doubles with fewer petals and “single” with one sparser row of overlapping petals surrounding a handsome cluster of gold stamens in the center and “Japanese’s” single with a nest of showy, petal like stamens in the center. Moreover colors range from dark maroon, to bright red, to pink, to white and occasionally yellow. Many especially the pale ones, are fragrant. 

They grow on long, arching stems in a mound of dark green foliage about three feet high and three feet wide. The plants do not bloom for long, although you can choose varieties that bloom for several overlapping periods, and the foliage is attractive all summer and into fall, when it turns a pleasing gold color. Paeonia tenuifolia (fern-leaved peony) is low growing and admired for both its handsome foliage and its dark red flowers. “Tree peonies” are really shrubs that grow into a mound about five feet high and five feet wide; there is a wider range of flower colors among the tree peonies than with the herbaceous kind, including yellows, golds and some with spectacular streaked markings. 

By choosing a selection of early, midseason and late varieties you can keep a peony bed in bloom for as long as six weeks, this is a good idea because they make a good cut flower as well as a grand show in the garden. Some of the many hybrid peony varieties are Kansas a bright red double Festiva Maxima a beautiful variety over hundred years old, which is a white-flecked double with traces of red; and Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt a pale pink double.

If you want to grow “Peonies” then you should plant in fall in deep, well-drained soil enriched with organic matter. Thus, making sure the eyes is no more than two inches below the soil surface, because planting too deep may result in failure to bloom. Peonies usually do very well when planted right, even though they may take a few years to get established and bloom well. They are not suitable for climates with very warm winters. 

Staking with peony rings will keep the blooms more attractive, particularly when it rains. If you have planted your peonies correctly and they still do not bloom after several years, other conditions may be at fault, such as excessive moisture or drought, too much heat or too much shade, as well as various pests and diseases. To keep plants healthy, always clean up dead foliage at the season’s end. Heavy feeding may also encourage the plants to bloom. Dig a trowelful of a balanced fertilizer into the soil around each one in early spring and again after flowering. Source: Charismatic Planet