Ring the Bell
Campanula is back!
Campanula, also known as bellflower and Canterbury bells, is ringing in my shop this week. It draws customers’ interest because of its distinctive bell-shaped blooms. Campanula comes in pink, purple and white and is only available for a few weeks this time of year. It showed up a little early in my shop this season. Although its availability is short-lived, it lasts a long time in the vase. This one’s a keeper.
Using campanula in design can be tricky. The first harvest off of the plant is often one massive stem with lots of small side shoots. This is ideal for wrapped bouquets because it’s so robust and takes up a lot of space. If I design with it in a vase arrangement or bridal bouquet I need to trim off many of the bottom flowers to create a single stem with a cluster of blooms at the top.
Cutting off all of those bells can make many flower lovers cringe. The cast-offs are not useable. I hear from dumpster divers in my shop: “how can you compost all those flowers?” I’m used to it. It’s not just campanula that needs pruning. I clip away beautiful blooms everyday. Sometimes I forget what a floral savage I’ve become. I’m surprised by the gasps in my design classes when I wantonly snip a superfluous stem over my compost bin. It’s just a small sacrifice in service of the design.
Most of my farmers grow the Champion series of campanula. Champion is a bushier stem and better for wrapped bouquets. Champion Pro has smaller flowers and are easier to use in designs like bridal bouquets or centerpieces. There is also a double bloom campanula called Flore Pleno. A few of my farmers have tried growing it without much luck. It looks nice in photos, but I’m happy to stick with the singles I know and trust.
I always think of Queen Elizabeth II when I see campanula. It was among her favorite flowers. She featured it in many royal ceremonial events including the floral arrangements for the funeral of her husband of 73 years, Prince Phillip. Most iconically, she wore a custom pink tam-styled hat festooned with a bouquet of stitched fabric campanula bells for her Silver Jubilee. The whimsical accessory caused excitement and controversy at the time.
Like The Queen, I recognize the contribution of campanula for ceremonies. I try to slip it into my wedding designs whenever I have it. Years ago, I designed flowers for a couple I fondly referred to as “the Julies.” I used campanula liberally in their bridal bouquets and in all of their centerpieces. They and their families still send me notes to this day about how much they loved the flowers and how the campanulas stole the show.