Blue clips, when I grew it in a couple of different gardens, always remained a small clump. I don't think it would ever make a groundcover.

I concur. Neither blue nor white clips have ever spread for me. They're cute at the front of a border, but I don't consider them anything like groundcover.

I planted campanula glomerata in my back garden and it tried to take over!!! The flowers are stunning so I was mesmerized and let them spread happily. Whoa baby! I have since turned that area back to grass and the CG leaves still come up all the time but they get mowed weekly and don't get a chance to bloom/spread. Lets see, that's been 5 years or so. And that is the ONLY perennial that continues to leaf out of all that I had in that particular area. That and lysmachia...gooseneck, but the LG was gone after a couple of mowings.

If you want a mass of White Clips, your biggest bang for the buck is to start them from seed. They are super easy to grow from seed and you can get tons of plants. While they are not a spreader, they are a clumping type of campanula, you can acheive the ground cover effect by mass planting them. I grew from seed last year the wild strain of the blue, and a couple even tried to flower. They grew quickly, and this year the clumps are huge and thick. Can't wait until they start to flower.

Karen

Here is a link that might be useful: Campanula seeds - Swallowtail Garden

I concur with everyone else. Cute little plants, but not a groundcover. Never really flourished for me. DO NOT buy the glomerata! It's extremely invasive as ginnier says. You'll regret that one. Have you looked into lamium "White Nancy". It spreads quickly, has white flowers and variegated leaves. Very showy. Nice plant, and much easier to remove.

I have Blue Clips and White Clips in my border. The Blue Clips were great last year, blooming all season - not a lot of spreading, but very nice. The White Clips didn't grow at all after planting! They bloomed, but were very small. Now this year, the ones that survived over winter are shrivelling and dying. Anyone have any idea why they don't grow and are shrivelling up and dying? They are in full sun with average soil. They were both nursery stock, not grown from seed. Thanks for any advice.

I have been wanting to start some clips from seed but thought I read something about deer loving them. Is that so? Not that its a deal breaker, but I already spray so many things (daylilies, hosta, sedum) that if possible, I'd prefer something that isn't so tasty to them.

I love your clearly voiced opinions, Campanula! I'll agree with you on the C. glomerata, but I like the Clips here. They have been a restrained little pop of color that goes on all season in my garden, making a tidy edging plant. No fussing, they just returned reliably where I had them placed for 3 years. They disappeared this winter, but not their fault . . . the voles left little holes for all the Clips as well as all my Stoksia, a Pulmonaria 'Majeste' and a wonderful almost red Dianthus deltoides 'Brilliancy' that like the Clips bloomed from May through hard freeze.

I am going to go on a hunt for C. trachelium. It's been mentioned several times recently, and looks like a lovely plant.

NHBabs- Campanula trachelium is really sweet but seems to be very difficult to find. I did find a seed source from Australia that ships to the USA. I wonder how long the seeds would keep.
Sharon