2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Bell of Portenschlag (lat. Campanula portenschlagiana) - a dwarf herbaceous perennial plant of the genus Bell (lat. Campanula) of the family of the same name Bellflower (lat. Campanulaceae). The compactness of the plant allows you to grow the Portenchlag Bell in flower pots, decorating a house or a heated loggia all year round with beautiful evergreen leaves and a long period of abundant flowering of blue-purple bells.
What's in your name
The difficult-to-read specific epithet of the plant keeps the memory of the Austrian botanist named Franz Edler von Portenschlag-Ledermayer (1772-02-13 - 1822-11-07), who devoted most of his life to the study of the flora of Austria. With his hands, a herbarium was created, numbering more than ten thousand plant samples, among which was this kind of Bellflower, however, then the plant had a different name - "Campanula muralis". Today this name can be found in the literature, as a synonym for the Bell of Portenchlag. There are also other synonyms.
Description
The Portenchlag bell can be a herbaceous annual or an evergreen perennial whose leaves winter well under the snow. This short plant, reaching a height, as a rule, no more than twenty centimeters, quickly forms an evergreen clump of small rounded leaves on the surface of the earth. In favorable conditions, after two to five years, the height of a perennial species can reach fifty centimeters.
The yellowish-green stems of the Portenchlag Bell are spread over the surface of the earth, or slightly rise above it. The stems are usually glabrous, but they may also have sparse pubescence of white hairs.
Rounded small leaves with a cordate base and a beautiful jagged edge are often glabrous, or have weak pubescence, located along the veins of the leaf plate. On the stem, the leaves are arranged in a regular order. Long-stemmed leaves form a spectacular rosette.
Flowers, which have a traditional bell shape, rise above the green curtain throughout the summer period, being located on pedicels of different heights, from short to medium. Flower petals can be of different colors, but more often they are blue-violet shades. Slight pubescence can be observed on pedicels, sepals, and flower petals. The flowers are hermaphrodites, hiding five stamens and a lilac pistil with a yellow stigma in the mouth of the bells.
The fruit of the Portenchlag Bell is a dry capsule with numerous pale brown seeds.
Usage
The bell of Portenchlag is suitable for both outdoor use and for growing in various flower containers.
The compact, low plant is ideal for rocky gardens and alpine slides. It can be used as a ground cover plant, or it can be used for living flower borders in flower beds or along garden paths.
Growing conditions
The plant prefers to grow in a well-lit place, but it also tolerates partial shade.
In the wild, it grows on calcareous, sandy or loamy soils. In culture, it grows best in fertile, loose and moist soil with good drainage, which does not allow water to stagnate. The acidity of the soil must be alkaline or neutral.
The Portenchlag Bell is propagated by sowing seeds in open ground before winter, or in early spring. Vegetative propagation is possible using cuttings.
No pruning is required for the plant. To extend the flowering period, wilted flowers should be removed, and to maintain the decorative appearance of a perennial green curtain, damaged or old leaves that have lost their charm are removed.
Enemies
The bell of Portenchlag can be damaged by snails and slugs, and with an excess of moisture or stagnant water, it can be exposed to fungal diseases.
Wet winters are destructive for the plant.
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