One of the secrets of a garden in bloom that really looks great is to grow flower varieties with different shapes!
Bell looking blossoms are some of the most original, often nodding and pendent, growing on top of foliage clumps or under branches and leaves. They add a dimension to more classical daisy like, cupped and globular efflorescence types.
At the same time, they add color, because they come in all the shades of the rainbow; but their rare shape, that of a church, temple or Christmas bell, is always intriguing, especially when they shake in the wind or when pollinators cone to visit them.
If your flower beds, borders, containers and also naturalized areas need blooms with the original and decorative shape of bells, you know where to find some of the best varieties: here beneath.
15 Stunning Flowers That Look Like Bells
And here they are: 15 of the most decorative varieties of plants with flowers that look like colorful bells!
From planting and watering, to pruning and deadheading, this guide will help you appreciate and care for these enchanting blooms, so that you can enjoy their beauty for years to come.
And now, let’s move straight on; ready to meet each one in detail and with great pictures?
1: Summer Hyacintth (Galtonia candicans)
For a late summer burst of candid looking bell shaped flowers, summer hyacinth offers your garden white blooms on an upright stalk with a pendant habit.
Very similar to Christmas bells, with petals that divide at the mouth, slightly pointed and broad, the blossoms are snow white in color often with a green blush.
Slender and long, the spikes can hold up to 30 heads each. This bulbous perennial is easy to grow and it will also give you dark green, and fleshy leaves at the base, long, broad and pointed. This variety has won the Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society.
Summer hyacinth is a tall perennial with bell shaped blooms for informal beds and borders, but also suitable to underplant shrubs and roses and it makes an excellent cut flower.
2: Spanish Bluebell (Hyacinthoides hispanica)
Spanish bluebells are a great spectacle in Nature, so why not in gardens? The name is partly correct, because the blooms are elegantly bell shaped and nodding, but they can be blue, white or pink, according to the cultivar and variety.
Flowering profusely with the hyacinth like heads on long stems, they can literally fill a whole garden, creating blankets of color that rest on the fleshy, glossy, mid green and grass blade like tufts of leaves. Cold hardy, this bulbous perennial will also naturalize spontaneously.
Whether you choose Spanish bluebells for beds or borders, or to fill a whole naturalized area under trees and shrubs, it will guarantee you a galaxy of bright bell shaped flowers every spring, year after year.
3: Peach Leaved Bellflower (Campanula persicifolia)
If you like delicate looking, bell shaped flowers, you will love peach leaved bellflower. The petals of the blooms are so thin, and the colors, in pastel shades of blue, violet or white, that you can almost see through them.
The blossoms are about 2 inches wide (5.0 cm) and they come on upright stalks, looking out. As they mature, they open slowly, until they become little colorful and pointed cups.
The basal rosette of foliage forms an elegant and finely textured clump of narrow and bright green lance shaped leaves.
Peach leaves bellflowers adds bright and soft beauty to informal beds and borders, for edging and in containers. This bell shaped flowering perennial is a must have in a cottage garden.
4: Coral Bells (Heuchera sanguinea)
Coral bells is a clump forming perennial loved especially for its foliage, but it takes its name from the shape and color of its flowers.
These come on long stalks that rise above the plant, and they offer you small but brightly colored, bell shaped blooms, in varied shades, from yellow to bright red, including pink and orange.
The broad, lobed evergreen leaves can be of the most amazing tints, from red, to copper, to yellow, burgundy, and even almost black.
With this variety you get the best of two worlds: lovely blooms and amazing texture! And it becomes even more attractive when butterflies and hummingbirds come to feed on it!
Coral bells has a very decorative presence adding lush foliage, amazing colors and elegant bell shaped flowers to your informal beds and borders, and it is ideal for gardens in dry shade.
5: Swamp Dog hobble (Eubotrysra cemosus)
Swamp doghobble will give you perfectly bell shaped, long lasting blooms even in very difficult conditions, like wet and poorly drained soil in full shade!
Coming on long, outward growing flowering branches, the blossoms nod in an elegant line of white heads with redfish pink dots.
These will then start weeping, for a very decorative effect. Add the fragrance they have, and you get a little corner of heaven, loved by butterflies and pollinators.
This prostrate to erect deciduous shrub also gives you a dense, bushy structure and lush, mid to bright green foliage, with many elliptical leaves.
Strong and highly adaptable, swamp doghobble brings you bell shaped flowers even for difficult gardening jobs, like river banks, stabilizing the soil, or on slopes, but it will also be happy in a border…
6:’Adiyaman’ Persian Lily (Fritillaria persica ‘Adiyaman’)
For people who like unusual flower colors and they want bell shaped ones, ‘Adiyaman’ Persian lily is a real find.
The upright raceme of nodding blooms, elegantly distributed on the stems in fact has a very uncommon trait: they are of a very deep, violent purple shade, and this is very rare indeed!
This Fritillaria variety has a Gothic look that’s really hard to match. And the effect is complemented by the lanceolate leaves at the base, which are gray green.
No wonder that this exceptional and extravagant beauty has won the prestigious Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society.
Despite its rare look and color, ‘Adiyaman’ Persian lily is low maintenance and suitable for beds, borders and even containers in most sunny gardens.
7: Clustered Bellflower (Campanula glomerata)
The name of this flowering perennial says it all! Clustered bellflower gives you what it says on the tin: upward facing, perfectly bell shaped and brightly colored blooms in a lovely and dense cluster.
Each inflorescence usually has about 15 heads, and they can be white (Campanula glomerata var. alba) pale lilac, with ‘Caroline’ or violet, with the cultivar ‘Superba’ winner of the Award of Garden Merit by the Royal Horticultural Society being the strongest in shade. Cold hardy and herbaceous, it also offers you broad and pointed leaves that grow beneath the blossom like a bouquet.
Clustered bellflower is ideal for a natural looking green space, be it a bed or border, in naturalized areas, cottage gardens or even as ground cover.
8: Pitcher’s Clematis (Clematis pitcheri)
We even found a clematis with the flower shape you are looking for, pitcher’s clematis, or bellflower clematis, native of Mexico and the Southern States.
The long lasting, bell shaped, pendant blooms are about 2 inches long (5.0) and they end up with 4 pointed and recurved tepals at the mouth.
They are purple, with darker and lighter shades, sugary in texture, and very attractive indeed!
They are followed by interesting fluffy, brownish red seed heads that stay on the vine for a long time. The leaves too are beautiful, divided into up to 8 lanceolate leaflets.
For bell shaped, slightly exotic blooms on gazebos, pergolas, arbors, fences and gates, pitcher’s clematis is a really great asset.
9: Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis)
The lovely, rounded white bell shaped flowers of the humble lily of the valley are iconic. Fragrant and nodding, they come in open clusters on blooming stems just above the foliage, or in its middle.
They will last several weeks from late spring to early summer, bringing you a spot of brightness in shady spots. Of course, this perennial is also very much prized for its glossy, long and pointed, broad green leaves.
But if you want a twist here, I suggest you look at the cultivar ‘Albostriata’, which displays thin cream yellow stripes.
Lily of the valley is a queen of groundcover, thanks to its ability to spread and naturalize fast and very low maintenance. But its lovely bell shaped flowers would look great in flower beds and under shrubs as well.
10: Canterbury Bells (Campanula medium)
Canterbury bells has – obviously – bell shaped flowers but with an especially harmonic and sweet looking dimension.
About 2 inches wide (5.0 cm) and 3 inches long (7.5 cm), they also have a very open mouth, so you can see the yellow stamens inside, and the petals divide in round shaped, short lips that give the ensemble a lovely frame.
The color choice us wide: white, pink, violet, blue, magenta and purple! The stems are decorated by herbaceous, lance shaped and dark green leaves, while the floral displays are visited by many butterflies.
Another very adaptable perennial variety with long blooms, Canterbury bells is suitable for beds, borders, edging and even to underplant shrubs and roses.
11: Prairie Bluebells (Mertensia lanceolata)
The slightly arching flowering stems of prairie bluebells, native of North America, bear very dense clusters of bell shaped and nodding blooms, but… Flowering from late spring to early summer, they have different color!
They range from pink to blue, sometimes intense, sometime pale pastel, to pink! This clump forming perennial also has dense foliage, mid green, which lies under the floral display, with herbaceous lance shaped leaves.
Prairie bluebells is a wild looking variety, ideal for mountain gardens, in fact it comes from the Rocky Mountains at high altitude.
But even if you live lower down and you like its bell shaped blooms, plant it in borders or a wild meadow garden.
12: Yellow Fairy Bells (Disporumflavens)
As usual we like to go off the beaten path and offer you less known varieties, and shade loving yellow fairy bells couldn’t miss from our list. As the name suggests, blooms are bell shaped, nodding and bright yellow in color.
Coming to your garden from Korea, this exotic looking perennial gloves you its floral display on crooked stems, amid broad, veined, very glossy green leaves, which grow to about 6 inches long (15 cm).
When the blossoms are spent, you will be left with dark blue berries that last till the fall. Be careful with slugs and snails though, because they love it as well.
While yellow fairy bells is ideal for woodland gardens, it also suits both temperate and exotic garden designs. While it is not very common, it spreads fast thanks to its rhizomes.
13: Common Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)
To be precise, the blooms of common foxglove are tubular, but they look like long and beautiful bells on the long stalks.
The clusters of this biennial or short lived perennial variety last for months, each head reaching 2 to 3 inches long (5.0 to 7.5 cm) and they are pendant and with a wide mouth.
And it is inside this opening that you will see the dark spots on lighter background. While “purpurea” means purple, the blossoms can also be white, pink, and with the many cultivars, the palette stretches to violet and orange. The broad leaves that form a clump at the base add texture and structure.
Healthy and strong, common foxglove gives you showy flowers that look like bells together with a colorful vertical accent for herbaceous beds and borders in all informal gardens. Do not ingest it though, because it is toxic, as well as medicinal!
14: Carolina Silverbell (Halesiacarolina)
Imagine lots, literally thousands, of white bells hanging from the branches of a big shrub or small trees, in the shade given by its dense foliage!
You have just pictured the fresh and soothing effect of Carolina silverbell, a deciduous species from the Southern United States.
The flowers are about 1 inch long, very delicate looking and with bright yellow stamens inside, nodding and they come in mid spring.
When the Sun heats up, it will produce four winged green seeds that attract squirrels all through to fall. The mid to dark green leaves are elliptical, pointed and deeply veined.
You can grow Carolina silverbell for bell shaped flowers galore as a specimen plant, in large borders or even in naturalized areas and woodland gardens!
15: Angel’s Trumpet (Brugmansia spp.)
And we close with the most showy variety of all: angel’s trumpet, an exotic shrub or tree with huge flowers that look like massive bells!
Reaching up to 1 foot in length (30 cm!) the nodding flowers hang from under the branches from midsummer to fall, but in warm climates, even in winter!
They can be white, yellow, pink, cream and orange, and the display they give youfrom the arching branches is really jaw dropping! The blossoms also have a strong fragrance similar to honeysuckle, but only in the evenings.
All on a large scale, the large green and pointed mid green leaves finish this tropical picture with perfection! It is a classic in Mediterranean gardens.
Despite its show stopping exotic beauty, all varieties of angel’s trumpet are low maintenance and they even naturalize! The only drawbacks are that they need warm climates and that they are highly toxic.
Colorful Floral Bells for Your Garden
We have come to the end of this article; bell looking flowers are not as common as other shapes. But now you have varieties in all colors, sizes and for any climate and garden style.
Written By
Amber Noyes
Amber Noyes was born and raised in a suburban California town, San Mateo. She holds a master’s degree in horticulture from the University of California as well as a BS in Biology from the University of San Francisco. With experience working on an organic farm, water conservation research, farmers’ markets, and plant nursery, she understands what makes plants thrive and how we can better understand the connection between microclimate and plant health. When she’s not on the land, Amber loves informing people of new ideas/things related to gardening, especially organic gardening, houseplants, and growing plants in a small space.