Fairy thimbles
Campanula cochleariifolia ·
Tiny, nodding, thimble-shaped bells of sky blue on thread-like stems, above a mat of small round leaves that creeps through cracks.
- Size
- 4 in tall, 12 in wide
- Zones
- 4 to 7
- Light
- Full sun to part sun
- Flowers
- Late June to early August
- Pets
- Not checked
- Job in a bed
- Carpet
A bed built around fairy thimbles
The planner designed this bed around fairy thimbles when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) English border in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 966 that suit those conditions, and says below why fairy thimbles stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Fairy thimbles × 19, blue
- 2 Cheddar pinks 'Firewitch' × 7, pink
- 3 Brown-eyed Susan × 3, yellow
- 4 Wild quinine × 3, white
- 5 Arborvitae 'Mr. Bowling Ball' × 1, grey-green leaves
- 6 Quaking grass × 8, tan
- 7 Hyacinth × 7, purple
- 8 Star of Persia × 3, purple
Why this plant
- The only bells. The others are daisies, flat plates, airy sprays and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
- The only blue.
Why here
- Under the taller plants. It runs back between them as living mulch: there its job is to cover the soil, not to be looked at.
- 19 plants in 5 groups (5, 5, 3, 3 and 3). Seen again further along, the same plant ties the bed together.
- Fine leaf against bold. Wild quinine is beside it: the strongest contrast of leaf there is.
Why now
- In flower for 7 weeks. From late June to early August.
- In company. With wild quinine and quaking grass in late June: 3 kinds at once.
Planned as an English border: 6 of the 7 groups (86%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. The back corners are held by wild quinine and brown-eyed Susan, the tallest plants on the plan. The most in flower at one time is 4 kinds, in late June. Every line of the Design check comes out Good or better.
The planner's own design check: 12 Excellent, 5 Good. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where fairy thimbles goes in a border
At 4 in it belongs at the front of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is ground-hugging (up to 6 in).
Its job: carpet. A groundcover planted in threes and fives to cover the soil: along the front, and just behind it.
A plant for the smallest spaces: paving joints, steps, the chinks of a dry wall. It runs gently underground and comes up wherever there is a gap, never doing harm.
- Paving cracks and steps
- Dry-stone walls
- Troughs and rock gardens
What to plant with fairy thimbles
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Creeping thyme: in flower together for three weeks, from late June.
- Cobweb houseleek: its silver leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after.
- Sea thrift: flowers first, early May to mid June, so the spot is never empty; tall enough (8 in) to stand behind it.
Questions about fairy thimbles
Does fairy thimbles need sun or shade?
Fairy thimbles grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day) and part sun (4 to 6 hours of sun, including some afternoon sun).
It wants ordinary well-drained soil, on the lean side, with no feeding, and a good soak in dry spells.
What zones does fairy thimbles grow in?
USDA zones 4 to 7. It is hardy to zone 4, which means it survives winter nights down to about −20 °F (−29 °C).
Above zone 7 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does fairy thimbles flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers late June to early August. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 4 | Early July to mid August |
|---|---|
| Zone 5 | Late June to early August |
| Zone 6 | Late June to early August |
| Zone 7 | Late June to early August |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should fairy thimbles be planted?
10 in (25 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 12 in (30 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 4 in (10 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many fairy thimbles plants do I need?
At 10 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 17 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 13 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 55 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as threes and fives, along the front and just behind it.
In the bed above, the planner used 19 in five groups.
What flowers after fairy thimbles?
Fairy thimbles is over by early August. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Lilyturf: from early August to mid September, 16 in tall.
- Japanese anemone: from mid August to early October, 3 ft tall.
- Hosta 'Guacamole': from early August to late August, 24 in tall.
What does fairy thimbles look like in winter?
Fairy thimbles dies down to the ground and there is nothing to see until spring. The old stems can be cut in autumn, or left until spring as shelter for overwintering insects.
More Campanula
- Bellflower 'Dickson's Gold' Campanula garganica 'Dickson's Gold'
- Bellflower 'Kent Belle' Campanula 'Kent Belle'
- Bellflower 'Sarastro' Campanula 'Sarastro'
- Carpathian bellflower Campanula carpatica
- Carpathian bellflower 'Blue Clips' Campanula carpatica 'Blue Clips'
- Clustered bellflower Campanula glomerata
- Dalmatian bellflower Campanula portenschlagiana
- Harebell Campanula rotundifolia
- Milky bellflower Campanula lactiflora
- Peach-leaved bellflower Campanula persicifolia
- Serbian bellflower Campanula poscharskyana
- Spotted bellflower 'Cherry Bells' Campanula punctata 'Cherry Bells'
In these guides
- Low plants for the front of a border
- Groundcover plants
- Plants with blue flowers
- Plants for a white garden
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial (groundcover)
- Size
- 4 in (10 cm) tall, 12 in (30 cm) wide
- Plant
- 10 in (25 cm) apart
- Height class
- Ground-hugging (up to 6 in)
- Place in the bed
- Front
- Flowers
- Late June to early August; hanging bells; blue, white
- Leaves
- Fine texture, herbaceous; green
- Shape
- Mat-forming, spreading
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 4 to 7
- Light
- Full sun, part sun
- Soil
- Lean, well-drained
- Water
- Moderate
- Feeding
- None needed
Not yet checked against an outside reference: its figures rest on general horticultural knowledge. Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.