'Sarastro'
Bellflower
"A thousand blooms spring
from one plant, with leaves broad & long.
O note, Devayani, how thick grow the flowers."
-Jan Haag,
circa 1995
circa 1995
Campanula punctata x trachelium 'Sarastro' was developed in Austria at Sarastro Nursery, though it's nice to suppose itw as named for the character in The Magic Flute.
This hybrid bellflower is heat-hardy & sun-loving. It spreads slowly, unlike the overly aggressive C. punctata, & looks very similar to C. punctata rather than like its other parent, C. trachelium.
Beginning late spring & through summer 'Sarastro' has eighteen to thirty inch stems of large pendant bellflowers of a glistening almost wet-looking nearly blue shade of purple, or deepest blue-violet, ever so slightly pinched at the mouth to approach the appearance of elongated balloons.
It is often described as a shorter version of 'Kent Belle,' but 'Kent Belle' has a more end-opened tubular flower & is lighter blue, so I don't find the comparison at all close. 'Sarastro' does not require staking as does the tippy 'Kent Belle,' though realistically speaking, 'Sarastro' will be at least a little tippy, not so badly that I've as yet been tempted to stake it.
C. persicifolia, Blue Bellflower