Ivy campanula is a low, creeping, hairless perennial with ivy-shaped leaves and small pale blue bell flowers in summer and autumn, native to western and west-central Europe. It needs cool, moist, partly shaded conditions with acidic soil, so it suits boggy or woodland-edge spots more than dry sunny beds.
Cool to mild conditions; hardy in temperate climates, protect from heat and drought.
How easy
Moderate
Native range
W. & WC. Europe
Climate
temperate
About
Wahlenbergia hederacea, also known as the ivy-leaved bellflower, is a species of flowering plant that is found throughout Europe. The delicate, patch-forming, hairless perennial herb has thin, creeping stems about 20 cm in length. Its pale green leaves are long-stalked and have an ivy-shaped, rounded structure. These leaves can be described as having a cordate shape and are approximately 5–12 mm long and wide. The plant has erect, solitary, pale blue flowers in summer and autumn, with bell-shaped corolla with 5 short lobes. The flowers are 6–10 mm long x 5–8 mm wide and sit on fine stalks 1–4 cm long. It is suggested that the long pedicels are an adaptation to assist in seed dispersal.
Where it grows
Wahlenbergia hederacea is found in cool, moist and boggy, partially-shaded areas, typically with acidic soils, such as woodlands, streams, pastures, heaths and beside rivulets. The plant thrives in short-grassed areas beside streams, with moist, acidic soils, and is almost never found in basic soils and stagnant water. They usually occur in small, scattered groups. The abundance of the ivy-leaved bellflower has been declining throughout the 1900s due to the loss of their habitat.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Wahlenbergia hederacea by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.