Million bells

Million bells: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Trailing to spreading, 15–20 cm tall and 40 cm wide, with stems that hang well over the edge.

Leaves

Small, narrow and slightly hairy; stems and leaves feel a little sticky.

Flower

Funnel-shaped, 2–3 cm, single or double, often with a dark or yellow centre or dark veins.

Colour

White, yellow, orange, pink, red, purple and violet-blue, also bicoloured.

Roots

Fine and sensitive to wet feet: the pot must drain well.

Flowering: May–October · Plants: May–June · Pruning: July

Why grow it?

• Flowers non-stop from May to October, with hundreds of blooms at a time.
• No deadheading needed: new flowers cover the old ones.
• Trails gracefully over the sides of hanging baskets, window boxes and tall pots.
• Almost every colour, including yellow and orange, often with a contrasting centre.
• The small flowers recover faster after a shower than large petunia blooms.

Million bells: where does it grow best?

• Full sun, ideally at least six hours a day: in shade it flowers far less.
• Light, free-draining soil, acid to neutral; in pots fresh potting compost, not garden soil.
• Chalky soil or hard tap water turns the leaves yellow.
• Allow 25 cm per plant in a trough, or three plants per hanging basket.

Light

Sun

Soil type

Sand or loam

Acidity

Acid or neutral

Moisture

Normal

Size

0.2 m tall, 0.4 m wide

Hardiness

Frost tender: plant out after the last frost (mid-May)

Goes well with

• Garden verbena: Flat flower heads among the small trumpets, also in full sun.
• Zonal geranium: A sturdy centrepiece in the trough, with million bells as a trailing edge.
• Lobelia: Deep blue beside yellow or orange.
• Bacopa: Small white flowers that trail down together with the million bells.

Million bells: when and how to plant it?

Plant in May–June.

1. Plant out after mid-May, once there is no more risk of night frost.
2. Choose a pot, trough or basket with a drainage hole.
3. Fill with fresh potting compost and mix in some slow-release fertiliser if you like.
4. Set the plants at the same depth as in their pots, 25 cm apart, and firm gently.
5. Water in at once, preferably with rainwater.

Care

Watering

Use rainwater if you can. Do not let the pot dry out, nor stand in water; check baskets every day in summer.

Feeding

From June to September a weekly liquid flowering-plant feed, ideally one containing iron.

Deadheading

Not needed: spent flowers disappear under the new ones.

Compost

Use fresh potting compost every year: old compost is exhausted.

Tip: Put three plants together in a 25–30 cm hanging basket: they quickly grow into a ball of flowers.

Million bells: when to prune it?

Pruning months: July.

When: Real pruning is not needed. If the plant gets bare or untidy in summer, trim it in July.

How:

• Cut all stems back by a third.
• Then water and give a flowering-plant feed.
• After a few weeks it will be in full flower again.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Cuttings

In spring or late August: tip cuttings of 5–8 cm from non-flowering shoots, lower leaves removed, in moist cutting compost in a warm, bright spot out of full sun.

Seed

Rarely an option: seed is hardly ever sold and most varieties are propagated from cuttings.

Million bells: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy to 0 °C: protect in harsh winters.

• Not hardy: it dies in frost.
• You can overwinter a plant in a bright, frost-free place at 5–10 °C, with just enough water to stop the rootball drying out.
• It is usually easier to buy new plants each year.

Diseases and pests

• Yellow leaves: Yellow leaves with green veins point to iron deficiency caused by lime. Use fresh compost, water with rainwater and give a feed with iron.
• Root rot: The plant wilts although the soil is wet. Make sure there is a drainage hole and do not leave water in the saucer.
• Aphids: On young shoots. Spray them off with water or let natural predators do the work.
• Whitefly: Tiny white flies under the leaves, especially in warm weather. Yellow sticky traps help.
• Bare plant: In midsummer the centre sometimes goes bare. Cut back by a third and feed.

Through the year

• March: Move overwintered plants somewhere lighter and warmer. Take cuttings.
• April: Prepare pots and baskets with fresh potting compost.
• May: After mid-May, plant out in full sun.
• June: Feed weekly. Water with rainwater.
• July: Cut bare or untidy plants back by a third.
• August: Water daily in warm weather. Take cuttings to overwinter.
• September: Flowering continues. Feed until the end of September.
• October: Last flowers. Clear before frost or bring indoors frost-free.

Did you know?

• It was long classed with the petunias, but got its own genus back around 1990, partly because it has a different number of chromosomes.
• The name honours Antonio de la Cal y Bracho, a pharmacist and botanist who worked in Mexico around 1800.
• Almost all varieties are propagated from cuttings, which is why you rarely see it sold as seed.