Platycodon grandiflorus
Platycodon, balloon flower, Chinese bellflower, large-flowered bellflower: its nickname, “balloon flower,” comes from a phenomenon that fascinates young and old alike—before opening, each bud fills with air like a blue hot-air balloon, then suddenly bursts open into a broad, five-pointed star. A plant to place where you pass often, so you won't miss the show.
Characteristics:
-
Balloon buds: they swell before opening, then burst into broad, intensely blue stars.
-
Colorful foliage: dark blue-green, toothed oval leaves that are highly decorative.
-
Long-lived perennial: once established, it returns faithfully for many years.
Sowing advice:
-
Exposure: full sun to light partial shade.
-
Soil: light, deep, cool and well drained, preferably neutral to slightly acidic. Crucial point: its fleshy root rots in heavy, waterlogged soil during winter—this is the main cause of failure. In clay soil, plant it on a mound or in a pot.
-
Method: sow in spring, on the surface or barely covered, as the seeds need light, at 15–20 °C. A short period of cold improves even germination. Be patient: flowering often occurs in the second year. See how to sow your seeds.
Planting advice:
- Transplant young plants into their final position, spacing them 30 cm apart: their fleshy taproot tolerates being disturbed very poorly afterward. They also grow very well in pots or planters.
Care advice:
- Water moderately. Cut the plant back in autumn to about 10 cm above the base to encourage abundant flowering the following year.
- Mark its location: it starts growing again very late in spring, and people often think they have lost it before accidentally digging it up.
Beneficial combinations:
Benefits for biodiversity:
- Its broad, open corollas offer highly accessible pollen to bees and bumblebees throughout a long summer season.
- Its late flowering extends the garden's resources at the end of the season.
Uses:
- Perennial beds, borders, rock gardens, pots and planters. Its flowers last well in bouquets, provided the cut stem is cauterized.
- Its root, called doraji, is a traditional Korean vegetable, and the plant has been used for centuries in East Asia. See our medicinal plants to sow.
Harvesting your own seeds:
Let a few flowers develop their upright capsules, then harvest them once they are brown and dry, before they open at the top. Turn them upside down over a container. See how to store your seeds.
Commitment to Quality: at SemiSauvage - Permaculture, we grow and select our seeds with respect for all living things as our guiding principle. Based near the Auvergne Volcanoes, we choose reproducible, non-hybrid varieties, test them for germination rates, and carefully sort and package them without any chemical treatment. Our belief: to give gardeners back the ability to resow, year after year, seeds that truly belong to them.
Treat yourself to the spectacle of balloon buds bursting into blue stars.
