Balloon Flower (Chinese Bellflower)

Balloon Flower (Chinese Bellflower)

Platycodon grandiflorus

This heavy bloomer gets its name from the way each flower bud swells before its starry petals unfold. Although the Latin name means 'bell,' the flower shape is really more of a star once open. The upward-facing flowers bloom throughout the summer and into early fall in shades of blue, pink and white.

The above pictures were taken in our back yard by JoAnne just the other day. We've had Balloon flowers for years; since we moved into the house actually. We have white ones and blue one; I've never seen a pink one, and they come up on their own faithfully each and every year with zero maintenance and care. However, as you can see from these pictures we have several plants that have hybridized into an awesome white and blue combination. I plan on marking these plant, perhaps with bread ties, so we can identify them once the flowers have passed and save their seeds in the hope of growing more next year. Who knows if these can be reproduced and catch on maybe they can be named after me. Something catchy like 'Wonderful Stephan' or 'Stunning Stephan'; you know something appropriate...

We have one other small issue with these flowers, well actually with Emilie. She loves to squeeze and pop the buds once they've swelled! We're trying to be a stop to this but she forgets sometimes and when she gets caught it lands her in 'time out' and a lose of ice cream for that night. We'll see how well this works.