Campanula persicifolia has seeded itself all round my garden and can be a little 'weed-like'. The flowers are amazing though and I get all shades between the standard blue / violet to pure white. This is certainly the best time of year for this plant. A useful tip from this non-expert gardener: most people advise you to cut down the flowering stem after the blooms have faded as would be the case with many plants of this type. But unusually, if you 'pinch-off' each faded flower from just behind the flower head then a fresh flower bud will appear on the flower stem.
I start of each summer on a mission to pinch-out each faded bloom but I soon get fed-up and after a while just pull the whole plant and its faded blooms out of the ground! The other slight problem to the pinching-out regime is that the sap of all Campanulas is a sticky, milky-white stuff - a bit like UPVA adhesive - and you find your fingers start sticking together. They grow about 3ft tall and are apt to fall over unless staked. I'm too lazy to stake them and in the weather we have had recently, many are laying down.
On the whole, a useful plant that requires little attention . The added bonus is that they will self-seed.
Photo above taken 20/6/2010
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