Bladder campion

Bladder campion: how do you recognise it?

Habit

Loose, upright clump 30–60 cm tall and about 40 cm wide, with much-branched stems.

Foliage

Opposite, lance-shaped to oval, 3–8 cm, smooth and blue-green, sometimes slightly waxy.

Flower

White flowers with five deeply two-lobed petals, in loose clusters, from May to September. They are most fragrant in the evening.

Calyx

Inflated, bladder-like calyx about 1.5 cm long with fine purple-green veins: the plant’s typical feature.

Roots

Woody rootstock with a deep taproot, which is why the plant tolerates drought.

Flowering: May–September · Harvest and fruit: March–May · Sowing: March–April and September · Plants: March–May and September–October · Pruning: March and July

Why grow it?

• Native plant that grows without care on dry, poor soil.
• Long flowering from May to September, with white flowers that attract moths and bees in the evening.
• Striking inflated calyxes, also attractive after flowering.
• Drought-tolerant and fully hardy, so ideal for banks, gravel and wildflower meadows.
• The young shoots and leaves, picked in spring, are edible.

Bladder campion: where does it grow best?

• Full sun is best; it also tolerates light half shade.
• Poor to ordinary, well-drained soil: sand, loam or clay, acid to chalky.
• Dry to normally moist; it tolerates drought, but not wet, waterlogged soil.
• Plant 30–40 cm apart or sow on a bank or in a wildflower meadow.
• Self-seeds freely; in a tidy border you need to keep an eye on it.

Light

Sun

Soil type

Sand, loam or clay

Acidity

Not fussy

Moisture

Dry or normal

Size

0.5 m tall, 0.4 m wide

Hardiness

Hardy (to -30 °C)

Goes well with

• Ox-eye daisy: White and yellow flowers in the same dry bank.
• Brown knapweed: Purple-pink thistle-like flowers that bloom in the same months and attract bees and butterflies.
• Yarrow: Flat flower heads and fine foliage for the same dry, sunny spot.
• Ornamental grasses: Light plumes that softly frame the loose clump.

Bladder campion: when and how to plant it?

Plant in March–May and September–October.

1. Plant in March–May or in September–October, when the soil is neither frozen nor waterlogged.
2. Choose a sunny spot and open up heavy soil with sand or grit. Do not add fertiliser.
3. Plant at the same depth as in the pot, with the crown at soil level.
4. Space plants 30–40 cm apart and water thoroughly once.
5. Water in prolonged drought in the first year; after that the plant manages by itself.

Care

Water

Rarely needed once established; water at the base only in prolonged drought.

Feeding

Not needed: on poor soil the plant stays compact and flowers freely.

Spent flowers

Cut them off to extend flowering. Leave some if you want new seedlings.

Harvesting

In spring pick the top 5–10 cm of young shoots and leaves; raw in salads or briefly steamed or fried, with a mild, pea-like flavour. Harvest only from clean, unsprayed plants that you recognise with certainty.

Seedlings

Pull out or transplant surplus seedlings in spring.

Tip: Sow it on a dry, sunny bank or in a wildflower meadow without fertiliser: on poor soil it stays compact and flowers more. Pick the young shoots in spring and let the rest flower for the moths.

Bladder campion: when to prune it?

Pruning months: March and July.

When: In March cut back the old stems, and if you like, at the end of July after the first flowering, cut them back by half.

How:

• In March cut all old, dead stems down to just above the ground.
• After the first flowering cut spent stems back by half; a second flush often follows.
• Leave a few seed heads in late summer if you want the plant to self-sow.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Seed

In March–April or September sow outdoors where it is to grow: sow thinly and barely cover. Thin to 30–40 cm. It germinates readily.

Division

In spring lift the clump, divide it into pieces with roots and shoots and replant straight away.

Basal cuttings

In spring, cut young shoots 5–8 cm long from the base and set them in moist cutting compost.

Bladder campion: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy to −30 °C.

• Fully hardy to about −30 °C: no protection needed in Belgium.
• The top growth partly withers in winter; leave it until March.
• Ensure well-drained soil: wet winters do more harm than frost.

Diseases and pests

• Aphids: On young shoots and buds. Rinse them off with water or let ladybirds do the work.
• Slugs: They eat the young shoots in spring. Collect them in the evening or lay a plank to trap them.
• Anther smut: Dark violet powder in the flowers, on the stamens. Remove affected plants and do not compost them.
• Too many seedlings: The plant self-sows readily. Cut off spent flowers or pull out young plants before they grow big.

Through the year

• March: Cut back old stems. Plant or divide. Sow outdoors.
• April: Sow outdoors. Plant. Harvest young shoots.
• May: Plant. Flowering begins.
• June: Flowering. Water in prolonged drought.
• July: Flowering. After the first flush cut back by half.
• August: Second flush. Leave a few seed heads.
• September: Last flowers. Plant. Sow outdoors.
• October: Plant. Move self-sown seedlings.
• December: Rest.

Edible and useful

Young shoots (March–May)

In March, April and May, pick the top 5–10 cm of the young shoots, with their small blue-green leaves, before the plant flowers. They taste mild and rather like peas, with a slight bitterness. In Spain they are called collejas and fried with eggs; in Italy (stridoli) they go into risotto and pasta. Eat them mainly cooked: briefly steamed, fried or braised; a few leaves can go raw into a salad. Only pick some of the shoots at a time: the plant sprouts again and still flowers profusely afterwards.

Storing

Fresh, one to two days in a bag in the fridge. Briefly blanched and squeezed, they can be frozen in portions for up to 6 months: then use them in risotto, soup or an omelette.

Caution: Bladder campion contains saponins, like many plants of the pink family: eat the shoots in moderation and preferably cooked. Only pick from plants in your own garden that you are sure you recognise, never from the wild: along roadsides and on old mining sites the plant can take up heavy metals. Caper spurge, a poisonous plant that also turns up in gardens, likewise has opposite blue-green leaves, but white milky sap runs out when you snap a leaf. Rinse the shoots well.

Eating and using is at your own risk: see the terms of use.

Recipes

• Scrambled eggs with bladder campion (revuelto de collejas) (Dish · 2 people · 20 min)
• Risotto with bladder campion (Dish · 4 people · 40 min)

Good for wildlife

Bees

Nectar and pollen for honeybees and wild bees.

Butterflies

Nectar for butterflies.

Did you know?

• The inflated, bladder-like calyx gives the plant its name: bladder campion in English, blaassilene in Dutch and silène enflé in French.
• In the Mediterranean, including Spain, Italy and Cyprus, the young shoots have long been eaten.
• In places the species grows on soil rich in heavy metals, such as old mining sites, and is therefore remarkably tough.