Campanula - mixing colours

rach_k

Warning: probably a very stupid question ahead!

At the front of the house, we have purple campanula growing at the edges of the concrete. It's really pretty and survives my complete neglect and possibly over-vigorous pruning so I love it! In Ikea yesterday, I saw a white variety so I bought a couple of plants, thinking they'd look pretty alongside the purple. However, now I'm not sure if they should be planted together - something in the back of my mind is saying that if I do that, all of the white might turn purple over time. Possibly not by magic but maybe something to do with pollination or recessive genes... I really don't know why but it's nagging at me. Am I making things up?

Does anybody with a better (any!) understanding of this kind of thing know? Obviously you can have some plants of different colours together as bedding plants are often mixed, but is that because they only last a year so they don't have time to change colour? Or is it only some plants? I'd love to plant the white with the purple but if it will go purple there's no point - I already have plenty of purple - so I could plant it in the back garden instead.

Also, when I do plant it, the plants I have are a decent size, probably 10cm pots. Can I split them just by carefully pulling them apart? The stuff I have already seems to survive most things. Thanks.

tiz

What type of campanula? If they are perennial version i.e. it's the same plant that survives through the winter then it will stay whatever colour it was when you planted it. Feel free to have different colour plants next to each other.

If it's an annual that's self seeding - the original plants die each year but new seedling grow to replace it - the colours may vary as the seeds may be the offspring of multiple coloured plants.

rach_k

I don't know what varieties unfortunately, but the purple survives the winter. I hope the white is the same! I suppose it won't hurt to try. Thanks.

tiz

It that case you'll be fine. The purple will stay purple and the white will either also survive the winter and be white next year, or if it's an annual it may self-seed and you'll have baby (though not necessarily white) ones next year. If it does self seed and you don't like the colour you can move them or throw them but they won't corrupt your existing plant.

On splitting, have a look under the leaves, if they are all spreading out from one stalk or very close together stalks best not to, if their are stalks coming out the soil all over the pot you probably could split it if you want. I'd be tempted to hedge my bets and split half and leave the others.

With smallish plants you aren't 100% sure are hardy best to wait until after your last frost to plant.

Davesnave

IKEA state that these plants are campanula portenschlagiana, and the blue one probably is, because it's a reliable, hard-to-kill perennial.

The white one might be too, because those damned continentals are always mucking about with plants and producing new varieties. However, a quick Google suggests c. portenschlagiana as a white form seems to be a rarity.

Either way, it's worth a punt, and at £2.50, a cheap one. If it all works out, two tone campanulas will soon be as common as Pax wardrobes.