Get value for money when you buy plants

Some plants are made for indoor use while others thrive best outdoors – and then there are plants which are cut out for both purposes

Campanula or Bellflower is one of the plants which you can enjoy indoors as well as outdoors. Jens Pedersen of the Gartneriet Tvillingegaarden nursery, near Odense, and one of Denmark’s large producers of Campanula portenschlagiana, says, 
-	The plant is popular primarily because it is decorative both indoors and outdoors, and moreover, it is incredibly hardy as it is a perennial tolerating frost and it reappears year after year. 
Campanulas easily overwinter in containers but are somewhat more exposed than if planted in the ground, not so much because of the frost but because of the risk of drying out in case of hard frost. 

Key to the future
In addition to its versatile applications, there are numerous types of Camapanulas and therefore also a colour – blue, white, pastel rose – and a flower type – single or double – to match your home or container.

Numerous innovation activities are going on in the Campanula area. Tvillingegaarden has had its own breeding department for 3-4 years and the new plants presented at Europe’s largest plant fair, IPM, recently held, are the result of this product development. 
-	Today, having your own material is essential for the right to the genes is also your key to the future! Naturally harmonious plants in pure, bright colours that do not lose their glow after a couple of weeks in the consumer’s home is the objective of Tvillinggaarden,
Jens Pedersen concludes.

Hydrangea – a hot hit 
Another plant to be enjoyed indoors and subsequently outdoors is Hydrangea which has experienced a regular renaissance and has become incredibly popular as an ornamental plant among modern consumers as a result of the increasing interest in making the garden 'an extension of the home'. 

Hydrangea can be planted out in containers from April to October when the risk of night frost is over. It is a good idea to protect Hydrangeas against winter frost and the risk of drying out, so place the containers in a sheltered location, for example in the garage, during the winter season. If Hydrangea is planted directly in one of the garden beds, it will develop into a low bush over time.

This is, indeed, value for money – all year!

Fact box:
New types of Campanulas introduced in recent years:

Campanula Wild Ocean(N) and Campanula Little Blue Ocean(N) from the Gartneriet Thoruplund nursery; see www.thoruplund.dk   
Campanula portenschlagiana ´Dark Royal´ and Campanula portenschlagiana ´White Royal´ from the Gartneriet Tvillingegaarden nursery; see www.tvillingegaarden.dk
Campanula medium and Campanula takesimana from the Gartneriet PKM nursery; see www.pkm.dk