Tall bellflower (Campanula americana) is a wildflower native to eastern North America, including Wisconsin. It is a three to six-foot, erect plant with leafy stems. The upper portion of the stem is lined with showy, lavender-blue, five-petaled inch-wide flowers in single spike clusters one to two feet long. The three to six-inch leaves are lance-shaped, toothed and pointed. It likes open woodlands, shady streams, and thickets in rich, moist soil.
It is a short-lived annual or biennial that completes its life cycle in one or two years, depending on when its seeds germinate. Those that sprout in the fall often bloom the following summer, while spring-germinating plants typically wait until the next year. Unlike many other bellflowers, its blossoms are star-shaped and flat, with a pale ring in the center that helps attract a wide variety of pollinators, including bumblebees, leaf-cutting bees, butterflies, skippers, and hummingbirds. The flowers open sequentially from the bottom of the flower spike upward, creating a long blooming season from mid to late summer. After flowering, it forms five-angled seed pods that spill seeds close to the parent plant. This keeps it returning year after year in favorable spots. Commonly found along woodland edges, shaded meadows, and stream banks, tall bellflower favors dappled sunlight and moist, rich soil—making it a possible addition to shade gardens and rain gardens alike. (July)