Rob's plants
home garden plants wildlife seed photos
plant sale journal topics fun links guestbook

Cortusa matthioli

 
Cortusa matthioli

alpine bells

Common name alpine bells
Family primulaceae
Life cycle perennial
Flowers pink or violet
Size 10"
Light part shade
Cultural notes moist garden soil
From seed germinate at room temperature, with exposure to light
detailed seed-starting info below

We grew the plants in these photos from seed labeled Primula cortusoides. Since our plants don't look like photos that species on the web, we suspected that it was something different. A helpful reader set us straight. Interestingly, we already had independently tried to grow Cortusa from (hopefully properly labeled) seed, so far without flowering results.
At any rate, this is quite a nice little plant. It has deep pink flowers, starting at the end of May in our garden. So far, this species is holding up much better for us than tall-stalked primulas: they seem to take sunshine better, and the foliage stays attractive even through dry conditions. The plants are only in their second year, so I'll withhold full judgment until next year.
Since it's a woodland plant, it may be a challenge in the long term to keep them happy in our sunny garden.

In our garden, this plant grows in the following area: shade garden

About my plant portraits


Some helpful links to other websites


Seed-starting details for this plant

  1. Seed from '02 trade (straight species). Baggy 70F (22d) - 35F (6w) - 70F (15d). No germination.
  2. Seed from '03 trade labeled 'Primula cortusoides'. Baggy 70F with light (65%G, 6-10d). Don't survive long in baggy - transplant ASAP
  3. Seed from '04 trade (ssp pekinensis). Baggy 65F (58%G, 11-27d)

First batch of seed probably not viable. Finnicky as seedlings.


I welcome comments about my web pages; feel free to use the form below to leave feedback about this particular page. For the benefit of other visitors to these pages, I will list any relevant comments you leave, and if appropriate, I will update my page to correct mis-information. Faced with an ever-increasing onslaught of spam, I'm forced to discard any comments including html markups. Please submit your comment as plain text. If you have a comment about the website as a whole, please leave it in my guestbook. If you have a question that needs a personal response, please e-mail me.

Your name

Your comments

common mis-spellings: mattioli matthiolii

home garden plants wildlife seed plant sale topics guestbook journal links

Last modified: October 12, 2005
Contact me