Ladybells
Adenophora liliifolia ·
Slender spires hung with nodding, pale blue bells in midsummer, scented and easy, like a bellflower that needs no care.
- Size
- 2½ ft tall, 18 in wide
- Zones
- 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun to part shade
- Flowers
- Late June to early August
- Pets
- Not checked
- Job in a bed
- Drift
A bed built around ladybells
The planner designed this bed around ladybells when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) English border in zone 6, part sun. It chose the other plants from the 708 that suit those conditions, and says below why ladybells stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Ladybells × 5, blue
- 2 Creeping mahonia × 5, yellow
- 3 Bloody cranesbill × 2, pink
- 4 Brown-eyed Susan × 5, yellow
- 5 Purple gas plant × 1, pink
- 6 Palm sedge × 3, green leaves
- 7 Snowdrop × 12, white
- 8 Surprise lily × 7, pink
Why this plant
- The only blue.
Why here
- At the back, and only just seen. At 2½ ft it is about the height of palm sedge (2½ ft) in front of it.
- A step in the back row. Next to purple gas plant (3 ft) and brown-eyed Susan (4 ft): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- 5 plants in one group. Massed, one kind reads as a single shape. Scattered, it would look spotty.
Why now
- In flower for 7 weeks. From late June to early August.
- Part of the bed's peak. With bloody cranesbill and purple gas plant in late June: 3 kinds at once. No week has more.
Planned as an English border: 4 of the 4 groups (100%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. The flowers run from early March to early October: 29 weeks in all. Creeping mahonia and bloody cranesbill finish the front edge.
The planner's own design check: 11 Excellent, 5 Good, 1 Satisfactory. 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 ladybells goes in a border
At 2½ ft it belongs in the middle of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is medium (24 in to 2½ ft).
Its job: drift. Planted in a small group of three or five, and repeated further along in the other number.
It threads soft blue through a cottage border and stands without staking. It spreads by both roots and seed, and is hard to dig out once settled, so give it room or a boundary.
- Cottage borders
- Naturalising in light shade
- Cutting
What to plant with ladybells
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Lady's mantle: in flower together for two weeks, from late June; low enough (18 in) to stand in front of it.
- Peony: flowers first, late May to late June, so the spot is never empty.
- Meadow cranesbill: in flower together for four weeks, from late June.
Questions about ladybells
Does ladybells need sun or shade?
Ladybells grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day), part sun (4 to 6 hours of sun, including some afternoon sun) and part shade (2 to 4 hours of sun, mostly in the morning).
It wants ordinary well-drained soil, of average fertility, and a good soak in dry spells.
What zones does ladybells grow in?
USDA zones 3 to 8. It is hardy to zone 3, which means it survives winter nights down to about −30 °F (−34 °C).
Above zone 8 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 ladybells 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 3 | Early July to mid August |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| Zone 8 | 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 ladybells be planted?
16 in (40 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 18 in (45 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 2½ ft (75 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many ladybells plants do I need?
At 16 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 7 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 8 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 21 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as a group of three or five, with a second group further along in the other number.
In the bed above, the planner used five in one group.
Is there a native plant like ladybells?
Ladybells is not native to North America. These North American natives come closest to doing its job:
- Coneflower 'White Swan': the same job in a bed and the same size; flowers early July to early September, white, not blue.
- Anise hyssop: the same job in a bed; 6 in taller, flowers early July to early September.
- Ohio spiderwort: the same job in a bed, the same size and the same colour; flowers late May to mid July, fine leaves, not medium.
Matched the way the planner's Swap button matches plants: the same job in a bed, then size, then flowering time.
Will ladybells spread?
It spreads sideways, by runners or roots; the risk of it taking over is moderate. Spreads by fleshy roots and by seed, and regrows from pieces left in the ground. Remove spent spires before they seed.
What flowers after ladybells?
Ladybells 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, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
- Japanese anemone: from mid August to early October, 3 ft tall.
- Hosta 'Guacamole': from early August to late August, 24 in tall.
What does ladybells look like in winter?
Ladybells 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.
In these guides
Zone guides: Zone 3 · Zone 4 · Zone 5 · Zone 6 · Zone 7 · Zone 8
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 2½ ft (75 cm) tall, 18 in (45 cm) wide
- Plant
- 16 in (40 cm) apart
- Height class
- Medium (24 in to 2½ ft)
- Place in the bed
- Middle
- Flowers
- Late June to early August; hanging bells; blue, lavender
- Leaves
- Medium texture, herbaceous; green
- Shape
- Upright, spreading
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun, part sun, part shade
- Soil
- Average, 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.