Tall Campanula

Ideally we should know the names of all the plants we grow. Unfortunately, this is not how it works.

Labels go astray, you forget a name you were sure to remember, a plant was a gift and the giver did not know the name, plants are mislabeled, etc...

This post is about  tall campanula, one of our plants that you could say has "obscure origins".

Campanula (First year)

I know where it came from.

I bought it from a woman whose garden is open to the public.

She told me it was a Campanula lactiflora she had grown from seed. Her garden had several clumps of Campanula lactiflora doing well.

So far so good.

First year again, the Campanula is at the back, in the middle right of the picture

I planted it, it grew well and a year after it was planted it bloomed like a typical Campanula lactiflora. I noticed however it was a bit tall but did not pay any attention.

Last summer it bloomed again and, as far as I could see, the flowers were typical of Campanula lactiflora. However, this time the plant was about seven feet tall (that is the height of the trellis behind it), the flowers towering above me.

It did not get any staking and stood up straight till I cut it down in autumn.

Same plant last summer

All references give five feet as the maximum height for this plant.  I thought I should check with the woman I bought  it from. 

One Sunday last summer, when her garden was open, we set out to visit it once again. At the garden entrance was a big sign saying "Visitors Welcome" but there was not a soul around, except for a dog indoors.

We had a look at the garden where several healthy clumps of C. lactiflora  grew not much taller than three feet high, perhaps half the size of mine, but there was no sign of the gardener and so I did not get any more information.

I will try to organize another visit this summer.

I wish I could say that this plant grows so tall here because the soil is particularly rich where I planted it. Unfortunately this is not at all the case. I gave it a good mulch of compost last spring, but the soil is in fact rather poor and rocky where it is growing.

I am quite pleased with it and presume it simply is a taller form of Campanula lactiflora. But it remains one of several plants in the garden whose names are uncertain or unknown.

The only tall campanula I know is Campanula americana, but its blooms are very different from the bloom of this plant.

Any suggestion to confirm its identity?