Trial: Annual
Years Trialed: 2000Good Qualities
Color (7), lighter purple than Champion Blue; Strong stiff main stem, 8 open flowers; Uniform; Great to have a Campanula calycanthema type variety throughout season, good for bouquets; Appealing shape of flowers; No insects and no fungus.Problems
Too short (3); Better as a greenhouse cut (2); Did not tolerate heat (2); Really had a hard time establishing in the field (Zone 2); Variable flowering time, sheds pollen; Will have to try again, planting earlier, to see if they will produce as well as Champion Blue and Pink; Timing is tricky - should be staked - poor yields and short stem length (compared to what is expected for cultivar), disease prone; Never amounted to too much in the field, in the garden it was in full bloom all June, however, grew like a bedding plant and not a cut flower; After 1 July, too hot and stems not marketable; Too costly to produce in our climate (Zone 5); My customers love the annual Campanula medium, however, ‘Champions’ are a poor substitution for the biennual we grow; Needs to be started early; Lost all plants to Pythium; Took 12 months to bloom.Trial Data
| Yield (stems/plant) | Stem Length (inches) | Market Appreciation Rating¹ | Repeat Again Rating¹ | Ease of Cultivation Rating¹ | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wholesale | Retail | Consumer | |||||
| Average | 1.5 | 12.6 | 1.0 | 2.6 | 3.1 | 2.9 | 3.1 |
¹1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.
Comments
Was not light blue but was purple (3); Similar to Campanula calycanthema and to Champion Blue; Produced 8-10 side shoots, with smaller stem than main shoot; No support problems (necessary).