Invasive campanula?

A few weeks ago I found a very vigourous seedling in my yard in complete isolation. It looked a little like it might be a nepeta (I have several) but I didn't recognize it so I potted it up to isolate it. Once it started formng bells I realized it was a campanula, which really made me suspicious becaise camps don't persist in my yard. I have grown countless camps and they don't makeit. 10 glomerata turn into two. 20 persificolia turn into none. So what is this? I know it's not rotundifolia, but I suspect it's something very invasive.

Would you please advise?

This message was edited Jun 29, 2013 4:59 PM

A pic.

It could be Campanula americana, a native plant that a lot of people (including me!) try to grow. Here are some pics of C. americana that may help with ID:

http://www.missouriplants.com/Bluealt/Campanula_americana_page.html

I have that one, don't know its name but it is very invasive. It was here when I moved here and no matter how much I dig it back it will probably be here long after I'm gone.

Thank you both. I thought it might be Americana. It really is lovely, and it seems to be featured in books on natives, but I don't want to let any thing loose in my yard that I can't eradicate at will. I have some native plants but I prefer things that are readily controlled. It's good to know this. It's imprisoned in its little pot, and now I will make sure it doesn't bloom and seed.

What a shame - it's pretty.

Donna

could also be adenophora - ladybells

Yes, Denver, I see the resemblance and - ICK, another invasive. Into the trash. I'm mystified as to how it got into my garden. It's the only one on an entire quarter acre.

I really appreciate you all - this is saving me a lot of grief.

Donna

I'm very late to this thread. Years ago my dad gave me some pretty-flowered plants for my garden. Not quite sure where he dug these up from but I've spent years trying to get rid of it. Campanula rapunculoides. Impossible to dig it all out with it's fine root system and underground runners. If one little piece of root gets left behind, it starts growing all over again. Roundup has become my friend in this case. I have a blank area in my garden that I'd really like to fill up with other plants but fear that it might come back again amidst desirable plants. I did spray the pest again this year and so far, no returns (yet). Does anyone have any suggestions as to a better method to erradicate and how long I should wait to replant this area?

Roundup is your best bet. If you have it pretty well beat go ahead and plant. I did. Now, if it decides to grow the odd plant I'll take a used toilet paper roll, place it over the unwanted pest and spray the Roundup down the tube.

three - Thanks for the encouragement. I've seen this nasty Campanula grow through Hosta roots and come out the other side. Once it's intertwined, it's hard to root out. Great hint with the toilet paper roll! I've been using empty soda bottles but we rarely have those in the house and sometimes they're just too big anyway.

^_^
And if the TP roll isn't long enough a paper towel roll will do as well.

Wow, threegardeners - that's an excellent idea! Thank you.

for a slightly larger spray area, a plastic jug w/ the bottom cut off works too. place over unwanted plant and spray down the opening.

More great suggestions! Thanks.

I'm making notes.

Great idea on spraying the roundup. I'd never used it before last week. LOL, it's pretty efficient, isn't it? I get to spot-seed some dead areas of my yard now. :^)

I don't think it is American Bellflower because that is an annual and I've never heard anyone call it invasive. Also it has a flatter flower and less of a bell shape than what I see in your picture. If it is American Bellflower just cut the seed heads off.

Campanula rapunculoides the European bellflower spreads by the roots and it is very difficult to get rid of it.

I agree with rapidunculoides.

I turned all mine under one year, but picked a flower to put in a vase. It dried to such a gorgeous deep purple, that a week later I dug a plant up. It was still green. I replanted it and it grew. I now just turn under the unwanted or weed it out.

This is Tall American Bellflower. I love this plant, as weedy as it looks. It also likes shade.

billyporter - Just turning it under kills C.rapunculoides? I end up having to spray it a couple of times with Roundup to get rid of it and even then, not all of it remains dead.

Oh Billy, such a pretty picture! Nice setting.

Donna

CindyMzone5, I just started turning it under, so we'll see if it turns into a bigger monster or if it will die.

Thanks Donna!

This is why I keep rapid around.

Oh, BP I just saw an image that looks EXACTLY like it:

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&rlz=1T4TSHB_enUS217US218&resnum=0&q=adenophora&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

Adenophora.
Denver Jude mentioned it above.

The picture from Annie's Annuals looks just like your plant:

http://www.anniesannuals.com/signs/a/images/adenophora_lilifolia.jpg

Donna, you're right, mine looks just like those. I also think those are not as invasive and would be a better choice.

Mine is actually called Rover Bellflower and I've had it since 1992. I got it from a guy who had a greenhouse in town for a while. It took me a long time to identify it, but it is Campanula rapidunculoides.

HA! "Rover bellflower"! The American Campanula does look pretty.

The name is pretty appropriate isn't it? I had forgotten it till I looked it up in my plant list.

Tall American is such a beautiful shade of lavender. Jsorens picture is more true to color than mine. The bloom is exactly why I grow it as the plant is a single weedy looking stem. The bees really like it too.

Having had this plant, I agree with DenverJude. It is Adenopera or Ladybells. It is a pretty thing, but you have to work to keep it under control. I planted it in garden behind garage, and a few years later I was stunned to find a piece at front of house, some distance away. I quickly eliminated it.
Another pretty but very invasive plant is Sweet Pea.

mondon - I've always wanted to grow sweet peas. I know there's a perennial type with pink flowers that tends to self-seed but I haven't had much luck here with them. Wrong spot, wrong time, wrong whatever.

Someday I'm going to find a place for them and have perennial sweet peas too. I remember them from when I was a kid. The neighbor up the block had one and I was fascinated by it. I do believe they were pink. They were on a fairly short wooden trellis. Not a lot taller than me and the blooms were large. The annuals are pretty small flowered in comparison.

Perhaps you are thinking of Everlasting Pea Lathyrus latifolius http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/674/
Hot pink, bloom all summer. Mine are fairly agressive in spreading.

greenthumb - The sweet pea I was thinking of is Lathyrus vernus because it takes some shade and dry soils which fits some of the area in my gardens.

Cindy, my response was directed more toward billyporter, but my Lathyrus latifolius grows in part shade and has survived our drought this summer without any watering on our part. Also, doesn't Lathyrus vernus run more purple than pink? I haven't personally grown any, so my exposure is limited.

Greenthumb, the pictures loook like I remember. I was pretty young when I first noticed them. I do remember the large size, different shape and they were a medium pink. I think all of them were pink. I'm not sure how long they had been there or when my friend actually moved into the house, but we went to kindergarten together. The trellis was pretty old and needed painted. It's too bad they aren't still there.

What a shame . That is a beautiful plant and I would have planted it right up if I did not learn from all of you at DG

I got tough again and turned MOST of the Campanula rapids under so I can plant something in their place. I got tough with a lot of things :o)

I got out my to-do lists from 2009 and am finally tackling some of those jobs. Yesterday, I had to pry more than one Tiger Lily out of a daylily. I ended up with three daylilies :o). Sometimes I feel like Micky Mouse and all those brooms. I did get all three daylilies planted :o)

I've also been mixing the dirt from the planting holes, with my compost, peat moss and lime. I've only had the peat for two years. Yep, I'm on a roll now!

My perennial sweetpea has no smell. C. Glamorata is a spreader, too. If I were to grow it again I would cut the bottom out of a 5 gallon pail and bury all but 2 inches in the ground, if I could dig that deep,

Salin-man, that's amazing. I put in numerous trios of campanula glomerata - Alba, Joan Elliot and the standard stuff, at least 15, and they all died out on me within three years. I have a yard in which everything thrives - but not that! Funny.

The soil where the Glomerata thrived was only about 2" deep over stony clay. You didn't challenge it

How funny. That's what our soil was like before i "improved" it with years of compost. Clay over hardpan.

Sounds like a development, Sell the topsoil and cover the sub-soil with a veneer. Lasts until the house is sold. That was GF's garden. My soil is black clay/loam that takes forever to dry out, then takes a jackhammer to break up. Compost works wonders.

Sheesh! The nasty Campanula is back after several treatments with Roundup and even poison ivy killer. I'm doomed to an eternal struggle. Maybe I should just dig up the soil and dump it somewhere else.