Greetings. I grew cup and saucer campanulas this year for the first time. I'm in zone 10 near the coast. They are in full bloom now and they are fabulous. I planted mixed six packs from various nurseries but I ended up with almost all purple doubles. I loved the one pink one.

The problem I'm having is that the plants grew out A LOT of side shoots early on. This seems to have produced over crowding and weak and rotting stems near the ground. I have little wind and no rain to speak of. The stalks are 3' tall and many are breaking away from the rosette, producing wilting and dead stalks in the middle of the bed. I'm sort of a survival of the fittest gardener when it comes to staking (I hate it and avoid plants that need it). But I love these flowers so much I want to figure out how to do it right next year.

1) How far apart should the seedlings be planted?

2) I know how to stake for one stalk. But how do I accomodate the basal plant getting more than 2' in diameter and growing lots of stalks out of the sides every which way?

The areas I planted this year were groupings of 6 or seven seedlings in full sun or part sun locations.

Thanks for any suggestions. Kristine