Bellflower

Sun to part shade — flowers last longer out of the hottest afternoon sun.

Medium — keep moist through flowering; it wilts and cuts its season short when dry.

Fertile, moisture-retentive but well-drained soil, ideally neutral to alkaline.

Deadhead individual spikes as they finish and cut the whole stem down once the last bells have gone — this often brings a second, smaller flush. Cut back to the basal rosette in autumn.

A balanced feed over a compost mulch as growth starts, and nothing after flowering. Fed harder, the tall species grow soft and need staking that they would otherwise manage without.

Divide in spring or straight after flowering, keeping the young outer growth. Most species also seed themselves freely, and the seedlings of the plain blue and white forms are perfectly good plants.

Sun to part shade — flowers most freely in sun, tolerates shade on a north wall.

Low — thoroughly drought-tolerant once rooted into a wall or gravel.

Poor, sharply drained soil, gravel or wall crevices. It asks for far less than the border species and resents rich, damp ground.

Shear the whole mat over immediately after flowering to keep it dense and often to bring a second flush. Cut back anything that is spreading further than you want at the same time.

Don't feed. These flower prolifically in a wall crevice with no soil to speak of, and feeding produces leaf, encourages the spread and reduces the flowers.

Lift a rooted piece from the edge of the mat at almost any point in the growing season and replant it — it roots as it travels, so no propagation equipment is needed at all.