Indoor bells. All About Campanula In Room Culture

Charming Campanula - one of the most abundantly flowering houseplants. Touching and reverent, with bright greenery it is almost completely hidden under hundreds of pretty flowers and seems like a real blooming cloud. At first glance, in the house bells you do not immediately recognize the relatives of the garden bells. But these are the same plants, just adapted to the pot culture. The cultivation of campanul requires considerable effort and scrupulous care. But all of them are more than compensated by the beauty of flowering.

The gentle beauty of Campanul

Indoor campanulas are representatives of flat-leaved bells, one of the most popular garden species of campanules. These Mediterranean endemic people are unmatched in their ability to effectively hide behind a coverlet of delicate flowers. The fragile, reverent look of the campanula attracts attention. And the cheerfulness and carefreeness that they bring to the atmosphere of the interiors is difficult to compare even with spring bulbs.

Getting to Campanul is easy. She has fragile, very thin and flexible shoots densely branching, creeping and drooping, creating a very elegant crown-pillow with a height of about 20-25 cm. Heart-shaped, light or bright leaves sitting on long petioles from 3 to 6 cm long add tracery to the bushes. But all the charm of this indoor culture is revealed with the start of flowering. In the axils of the leaves and on the tops of the shoots in the guards and hands, very pretty, simple and modest in shape bell-stars bloom, the diameter of which can reach 4 cm.

Campanules have a variety of varieties in which the corolla is more whole or deeply dissected, terry or outlandish. What can we say about the palette of colors, ranging from the most delicate white and light blue to periwinkle-blue, lilac, purple, violet and newfangled cream tones! The number of flowers is so great that the leaves under them are simply not visible.

Indoor bell development cycles

When they say that the bells bloom almost tirelessly, there is no question of any exaggeration. The flowering of the indoor campanula lasts from June to September in the old varieties and from March to November in the novelties. The average flowering time is not less than 3-4 months.

Like all crops that bloom for a long time, Campanul also requires a lot of time to prepare. Her rest period is pronounced, it requires a sharp change in conditions - but not content, but care. Traditionally, it falls in the winter, the bells themselves signal the beginning of the stage of preparation for the next flowering: their flowering and growth stop.

The most difficult stage of development from the point of view of caring for Campanula is flowering. During the resting stage, not only the campanula rests, but also its owners.

Campanules are not quite perennials

It is not for nothing that the flat-belled bell has earned the title of the most touching representative of the genus and the very eloquent nickname "shooting star". This is the only kind of bells adapted to room culture. An abundantly flowering herbaceous perennial with an extremely short lifespan quickly degenerates, requires constant replacement with young plants. And this characteristic of him is especially pronounced in room form.

That is why campanulu is most often grown as an annual, which after a very long and colorful, and most importantly mass flowering, is simply thrown away, exchanging for independently grown or acquired specimens. To preserve perennial campanul they need a cool wintering.

In a perennial culture, not all varieties of campanula are able to grow, especially capricious plants of foreign selection and many new varieties that cannot stand a strong haircut. Be sure to ask about this parameter when buying, specifying whether you have “caught” a multi-year or one-year campaign. If the campanula is not driven out for early flowering and is a hardy variety, then you can safely grow it from year to year, pruning after a dormant period in cool conditions and thereby stimulating new flowering. But, from the first year of its life, the campanula should develop precisely in cycles, be grown with the expectation of many years, and not as an annual.

The easiest way to grow Campanula is just like an indoor yearbook, buying plentifully flowering plants and enjoying their beauty for several months. For those who have enough time and effort, new copies for the next year can be grown independently. In order not to lose plants from the number of summers or foreign varieties, instead of providing wintering, you will have to cut the cuttings and root them, thus obtaining substitute plants.

And even if you buy a multi-year campaign, there is still no guarantee. The best strategy is to cut the cuttings “just in case” and try to save the mother plant - if you fail to achieve flowering, you will still have a new generation of campaigns. Moreover, there are never many of them!

Campanulas in room culture require careful care and do not forgive mistakes. But it cannot be reckoned among the most capricious flowering plants, because you will not need to create any atypical conditions for it. Many people from growing house bells are frightened by the need to constantly propagate the plant, its fragility and the need for regular watering. But in practice, Campanula is by no means as tender as you might suppose. She will respond to your attention with no less love.

Caring for indoor bells

We select lighting for indoor bells

Campanulas, even indoors, remain photophilous plants. For lush flowering, they need a long daylight hours. Delicate leaves and flowers should be protected from direct sunlight, because the Campanula loves diffuse lighting. Campanula cannot stand even light penumbra, shoots are stretched out for her at the slightest lack of light, compactness and beauty of bushes are lost.

It is best to place the campanula on the eastern and western windowsills, and in the southern location - only with good shading (or in the interior at a place equal in coverage to the eastern and western windowsills).

The temperature regime for the campanula

Indoor bells love the coolness and cannot stand the heat, which affects the beauty of flowering. Campanules bloom most of all, growing in the temperature range from 20 to 22 degrees Celsius. Higher temperatures can be compensated for by increasing air humidity. But it is much more difficult to provide suitable conditions during winter dormancy.

Campanula as a perennial can be grown only when the air temperature in winter does not exceed 15 degrees Celsius. The optimal modes are even cooler - 5-10 degrees. With a warm wintering, the plant will bloom sparsely next year and gradually die.

During flowering, it is better not to transfer Campanulu from place to place, and not even turn it around. But then she is not afraid of fresh air, and if you take it to a balcony or terrace before flowering, then it will bloom no worse than in a room. True, you won’t be able to make the bells bloom again next year, so weigh all the pros and cons: if you want to grow the campanula as a perennial, it’s better to leave it in the room.

Watering for indoor bells

Bells are hygrophilous cultures, including in room culture. During active development in spring and summer, they need frequent watering that maintains constant moisture. They are afraid of swamping the substrate, as well as its complete drying out. But in the dormant period, watering is carried out differently. They are gradually reduced from the time of flowering completion, making the procedures very rare and containing the plant in almost dry conditions (allowing the substrate to dry in the middle part between the procedures).

Campanula Humidity

Fortunately, indoor bells are not exacting to indicators of humidity of air. They feel good both in greenhouses and in ordinary city apartments. Spraying on the hottest days or at heating appliances will benefit them, especially since flowers and buds are not afraid of getting wet. By increasing the humidity in general and spraying in particular, it is possible to compensate for hotter temperatures during the flowering period.

Feeding Mode

Campanula in fertilizer needs only during the stage of active development - from waking up in the spring to the end of flowering. Fertilizers for it are applied every 2 weeks, with mixtures for flowering indoor plants. With the cessation of growth, dressings are cut off, not reducing gradually, but stopping for a sharp contrast.

When and how to trim indoor bells

For the campaign, two trimmings are needed:

1. after stopping flowering and growth, shorten long, thinned branches (before the plant is transferred to the cold);
2. with the beginning of active growth, in the spring, dried, damaged shoots are cut from the bushes, and in varieties that tolerate rejuvenation, shoots are strongly cut to 2/3 of the length (before being transferred back to room conditions). Specify the parameters of spring pruning when buying.

Campanula substrate: loose, breathable, light, without the risk of compaction (a mixture of equal parts of humus, leaf and peat soils or a special substrate for flowering indoor crops and summers).

Transplant frequency: if the plant does not degenerate, it is transplanted in the spring after pruning, be sure to maintain the previous level of penetration (summers are kept until spring for cuttings)

Pots: close, small, in which the roots will fill the entire earthen lump, only a couple of centimeters more than the previous

Methods of propagation of house bells

1. Cuttings of young shoots that are cut to the level of the soil and root in any substrate (watering to rooting is forbidden, access to water is provided by spraying).
2. The seeds. They are sown in the early spring, also do not water, and only spray the soil and young shoots.
3. Separation of bushes: only for perennials that have successfully passed at least two flowering campaigns.

Pests and diseases dangerous for campanula

• scale insects;
• spider mite;
• gray rot.

Control measures:

• circumcision of damaged areas of the plant with rot;
• treatment with insecticides from pests.

Indoor Campanula in the interior and not only

Bells in room culture - plants are not as simple as they might seem at first glance. Of course, they remain luxurious eye-catching decoration of rooms, but the scope of their use is much wider. After all, the campaigns are great for the role:

• color spot, bright and catchy accent, emphasizing the interior palette;
• a flowering accent, eye-catching;
• decorating empty, boring corners that lack design sophistication and stylish details;
• accent in nostalgic and romantic interiors;
• decoration of balconies and terraces.

It is advisable to exhibit Campanulu as a soloist, away from other indoor plants (except for compact decorative-deciduous crops). In the role of a single accent, she is especially good. And the “cleaner” the background for her will be, the better. Avoid additional decor, elaborate containers, an abundance of details - the campanula needs a simple and modest presentation.

Watch the video: Robertas 4-Piece Hardy Canterbury Bells Campanula on QVC (January 2021).