Codonopsis Species, Bonnet Bellflower

This plant is actually a root vegetable in Asia; I first heard of it actually as a vegetable used by the Ainu, called muk; and now in Wik...Read Moreipedia, I also see it is used in Korean cooking, where it is called deodeok. For many years I have wanted to try it out.

I have to say that of all the neat vines I have, this is truly one of my favorites. I grew them from seed that I got from a trade-friend...Read More in Canada, years ago.

They like to climb up, and then tumble back down, and it is usually about the time they trail and tumble that they bloom, which for me, is faithfully every year around the 4th of July.

I love the large chubby bells (not all that unlike the shape of another one of my favorites: azorina vidallii). They are a neat lime green on the outside. On the inside they are lime green freckled with maroon spots, and a heavy border of solid glaucous maroon around the inside edges.

The flowers aren't all that conspicuous from a distance. But, are easily noticed up close, and especially from underneath.
I should probably let them climb higher, so I could enjoy the underside of the blooms more, but I liked this iron birdie tuteur that I got from one of Hobby Lobby's famous half-price sales, lol, so that is what they got.

They form a large tuber, and like all cauiforms, hate winter wet, so I keep these in a pot that stays outside. They are fully root hardy for me here in zone 8, (temperature-wise), but we do not have sharp drainage, and I am just afraid if I planted them in our predominately clay soil, that I'd lose them to the combination of winter wet...

If this ever produces seed for me, I'll be sure to try some spare seedlings in the ground, but for now they are happy like they are...

I'm sure they'd be hardy (or at least root hardy) in zone 7, since they've survived multiple winters above ground, in nothing more than a one-gallon pot.