I’ve often wondered why so many gardeners neglect balloon flowers.
The only reason I’ve found is that you often find statements that they won’t do well in either stiff clay or light sandy soil.
But, to my way of thinking, the sooner such warnings are discounted, the better.
I can’t speak from experience regarding stiff clay, but I’m sure that any garden soil, however clay-like, could easily be made satisfactory for balloon flowers.
And as regards light sandy soil, well, balloon flowers just won’t be stopped by anything so commonplace as that!
Balloon Flower’s Ideal Growing Conditions
About 20 years ago, we seeded a 400-front row in an open field in the lightest, most infertile soil in the place.
When the field was abandoned to grass, there was a 25-foot strip of plants left, and now, after 17 years, the plants are still there—about 18″ inches tall and flowering, though relatively sparsely, every summer.
But that is not, of course, the way to get the best results from these plants!
Balloon flowers should be given good fertile soil, preferably rich in rotted cow manure, and always well-drained for the most spectacular results.
Generally speaking, they do best in full sun, though the pink varieties will retain their delicate colors better if they get some light shade during the hottest part of the day.
Where they are exposed to strong winds, the careful gardener will tie them up before they begin to bloom, for once flattened by the violent wind, it may not be possible to raise the stems without breaking them.
Balloon flowers seldom, if ever, need dividing and so are usually left in their original places for many years.
It’s therefore advisable, as already stated, to start with good, rich soil, then to top-feed them periodically rather than to take them up and renew all the soil.
The Genus Platycodon
The balloon flowers are closely related to the bellflowers. In fact, they were originally put in the genus campanula by the botanist Jacquin.
Later, they were transferred to the genus Wahlenbergia by Schrader, and finally, in 1830, DeCandolle created a new genus for them, Platycodon.
This comes from the Greek word platys, meaning broad, and kodon, meaning bell, and aptly describes their broad, bell-like flowers.
The common name, balloon-flower, derives from the appearance of the flower bud just before it opens.
Different Platycodon Species
Horticultural literature abounds with references to several species of Platycodon, including:
- Platycodon japonicum
- Platycodon mariesi
- Platycodon glaucum
But most botanists today consider all of them to be mere forms of one species, Platycodon grandiflorum, with a range from Manchuria and Siberia, through Korea and China to Japan.
The true Platycodon grandiflorum is usually described as 2’ feet high, but getting 3-foot specimens under good culture is not difficult.
The form or variety mariesi, on the other hand, seldom exceeds 1’ foot.
Blue Platycodon
As for personal preferences, I’ve always favored the single-flowered, blue platycodon, and the bluer the flowers, the better I like them.
However, I’m only one of many thousands of gardeners, and I’m sure many others will prefer the purples, lavenders, whites, and pinks, especially the newer double-flowered varieties in these shades.
Platycodon Grandiflorum
A seed packet marked Platycodon grandiflorum usually will give plants varying in height from foot, which will probably represent the varieties japonicum and mariesi.
Perhaps, also nana, which is said to be even more dwarf than mariesi, up to or exceeding 3’ feet.
The color range will probably be quite broad, including various blues and purples and a few whites.
Most plants will be single-flowered, though some semi-doubles will probably show up.
If you get a real sky-blue, like the old variety Die Fee which has grown for 20 years, you will have something to cherish.
Platycodon Mariesi
A packet marked Platycodon mariesi will probably yield about the same colors, but usually, the plants will not exceed a foot in height.
Platycodon Praecox Gigantea
Seed marked Platycodon praecox gigantea—the name is intended to indicate early flowering and large flowers—will yield early flowers, mostly in shades of blue, and plants up to 4’ feet tall.
Growing Balloon-Flowers From Seed
Raising balloon flowers from seed is simplicity itself. We usually sow in an open frame in this locality in early spring, transplanting the seedlings to their permanent places the first fall or the following spring.
If, however, we have a special color scheme in mind, we first plant them in nursery rows where their colors can be determined.
Of course, if you are working toward strict color lines or simply the type of person who always likes to know just what he’s getting, the thing to do is buy named varieties.
Unfortunately, though, these are no longer plentiful in American nurseries.
Where, for instance, are you to find the lovely old sky-blue Die Fee or the most floriferous, semi-double, clear blue variety multi-flora?
Shell Pink
Happily, however, we do have the beautiful new single Shell Pink and the even more exciting new doubles in white, blue, lavender, and pink.
Shell Pink is a lovely light shade of pink with darker veins, and the upstanding plants grow to about 30” inches and flower from early to late summer.
I have not seen the new doubles myself, but I can certainly see a wide field of usefulness for them.
Introduction Of Platycodons In American Gardens
The present revival of interest in platycodons, indicated by the recent introduction of the varieties in the preceding paragraph, certainly presages well for American gardens.
It will bring to the fore a plant exactly suited in hardiness to our low winter temperatures and, in its ability to get along on little moisture and in most ordinary soils, to our average growing conditions.
From early times to the present, blue has always been a favorite color in the summer garden “because of its coolness of aspect,” as Mrs. Wilder says, “in the trying heat and amidst the ever-increasing riot of gay colors.”
And platycodon is to be numbered among summer’s exquisite blue flowers.
Companion Plants For Platycodons
As to combinations of platycodons with other plants, I’ll have to limit myself to only a few references.
One lovely planting seen a few years ago was made of blue-purple balloon flowers, yellow daylilies, and the white phlox Miss Lingard.
I have also noticed a tendency in some sections to sow the Spanish poppy of apricot hue among balloon flowers, and it makes a pretty combination.
The pale yellow meadowrue, Thalictrum glaucum, always makes a good companion for the blue of almost any shade, and the same may be said of baby’s breath, Gypsophila paniculata.
The gray-blue platycodons, including some usually called lavender, go well with scarlets, such as the scarlets found in phlox, geum, and even the elegant lilies.
The pale yellow mulleins combine well with them, although too many of either might overdo the spire effect.
However, this could be relieved by interplanting the airy baby’s breath.
As cut flowers, if the stems are cut in the early morning and immersed immediately in cold water, balloon flowers will last many days.
42819 by CW Woods