Julie, I am growing these for the first time. My plants are about 8 inches tall, just only recently got planted out, and they are already making green bells! I had no clue what to expect out of these, and havent had tome to research. I do recall that they germinated very quickly. However, I started mine several weeks ago, indoors using grow lights. I had pretty much left my BOI's for deadlast week, as they dried out in incredibly high temps here last week, but they rebounded amazingly and appear to be healthy despite their near death experience.

I seem to recall reading that they prefer cooler climates. Cooler than what?!??! I am zone 6a and summers are never cool here! But I couldnt resist trying them this year, we'll see what happens.........

Ellen ,thanks for the info . Its pretty cool here ,but we can have a few days of hot blazing hell !! LOL

I have good luck with Bells of Ireland. They are easy to grow; I direct seed mine. In my Zone 5/6 garden, they reseed reliably. They do not seem to like the heat. They do best here if planted early; frosts don't seem to hurt them. I don't believe they are picky about soil and they tolerate dry soils. No pests bother them either--it must be the smell. They make wonderful cut flowers, but some people don't care for the smell. They aren't stinky, but are kind of herbal/aromatic.

If you check the "Annuals" forum, you will see a long thread about bells of Ireland from a couple of months ago. Just type in "bells of Ireland" on the "Search" feature at the bottom of the page on that forum. If you search all of Garden Web, you will get way too many hits.