Description
Over 120 years ago William Robinson wrote that it was ‘worthy of any care to make it a success‘ and this has been echoed down the years by others. It is a little tricky, but is growable given an understanding of its needs. It reaches up to 1.8 m tall and then in the height of summer bears around 25 huge, widely flared bells of light blue to white, on long pedicels. By huge I mean huge flowers, these are as much as 15-18 cm across.
Full morning sun in a gritty well-drained soil, with some light shade from the strongest overhead sunshine.
It makes a BIG, swollen root, which is strongly perennial but slow to make size and resentful of disturbance, so be warned please. Best outside in a south-facing site a raised bed with good drainage in a deep rich soil.
If you really must grow it in a pot then be aware that this is not the best way to grow the plant. It will need a big one and will not thrive in a small one, at all, even when young. Aim for 12-15 litres as an absolute minimum. Use loam-based compost as it will be in the pot for a long time, peat-based composts are totally unsuitable. Once it is established then don’t ever repot it, top dress only.
