Platycodon grandiflorus
Commonly known as “balloon flower”, the Platycodon has lovely small
flowers with unique paper like texture and visible veins. The common variety in
my area (Tokyo, Japan) has purple and white flowers. A notable feature of the
plant is the flower bud, which swells like a balloon before fully opening.
At the supermarket or home centre it’s not hard to find them on sale in
planters. As soon as I saw them the first time I decided I want to have them in
my balcony garden.
I bought the seeds from Amazon
and used a spare planter that I was planning to grow some vegetables. It turns
out the planter wasn’t the best choice for Platycodons because the
drainage is not good. More on that later.
There is plenty information about Platycodon online but their pictures at
various growing stages and caring tips are hard to come by. I hope my experience
will be useful if you also want to grow some balloon flowers!
Platycodon grows slowly in the beginning
For reference, the Köppen climate classification for Tokyo is “Cfa”,
meaning humid subtropical climate. In summer the hottest day can go above 34
degrees Celsius. In winter it sometimes can go below zero degrees Celsius and
perhaps snow a few days. The variety I have is a dwarf variety
Samidare-murasaki native of Hokkaido, so extreme climates shouldn’t be a
problem. In theory it will enter dormancy in winter and come back in spring.
According to the back of the seeds package, the best starting time is either
April or September.
▴ 100 platycodon samidare-murasaki seeds planted, 2019-09-15
I started my first attempt in growing them in September, 2019. Their germination
needs light so it’s better to keep them in partial sun light or under
shade. What I didn’t know is the seedling grows really slowly in the
beginning. It took about 20 days for the seeds to germinate. Then it just seemed
it’s going to take forever to grow their true leaves.
▴ 20 days after planting, 2019-10-05
At this stage I faced another problem - watering the seedlings. Platycodon
loves soil with good drainage, even a bit sandy quality. I needed to keep the
soil moist but not wet. The problem was they grew so slowly they didn’t
really use much water. The planter I used made the situation worse becase
it’s designed to preserve water. So it’s kind of hard to gauge how
frequently and how much water was needed.
▴ Near the end of the growing season, 2019-10-27
Another problem for me was the growing season was too short. In order for the
Platycodons to survive the dormancy I think they need certain mass in their
fleshy root. I suspect they were focusing on growing the root system so their
foliage grew slower in the beginning. In the end the time wasn’t enough for them
to grow into the size to survive the cold spell.
During winter the plant parts above the ground died down. Be patient and keep
the soil moist; they will eventually come back around April. Yes, around the
time I lost my hope and started my second attempt.
▴ Only one Platycodon grows back, 2020-05-02
Starting in earlier spring is much easier
It turns out if I only started in April, the result is still the same. Although
they still grow slowly in the beginning, eventually they start to grow the
foliage vigorously after they are more established.
This time I kept the seedlings in an egg container box because it was easier to
control the watering. I recommend using the bottom watering method because water
from top might move the seedlings and prevent their root system from settling
down.
▴ Starting again, in an egg container this time, 2020-04-21
The relative warm weather in spring seemed to help the growing of the seedlings.
However comparing to the basils next to them, they are still in totally
different leagues.
Their roots started to emerge from the bottom of the container, so it was time
to transfer them to the bigger planter. They don’t like their roots being
disturbed, so re-potting needs to be done carefully and before grow too large.
▴ The seedlings are ready for re-potting, 2020-05-29
Another two weeks after re-potting the Platycodons, they started to show visible
foliage growth. The original two sets of true leaves grew larger and all of them
started to grow the third set of true leaves.
▴ Third set of true leaves, 2020-06-14
The other side of the planter was empty because I was thinking to plant another
four Platycodon plants there. Why? I thought I need more of them to have more
flowers. Look at them; they look like they will only grow one shoot and one
flower bud. A lot of pictures I found showing them growing in clusters. I was
wrong!
▴ Only 5 days and the growth had skyrocketed, 2020-06-20
Platycodon is capable of growing multiple side shoots
One month after transfer them to the planter, they started to show their
tendency of their decumbent stems. Initially the stems grew upwards but then
some of them started to lying along the surface and then turning upwards again.
They grew towards all directions. If one only look at the end of the stems, they
would not be able to guess from where was the base.
▴ Platycodon grew decumbent stems, 2020-07-11
As they grew larger they also started to grow new shoots from nodes on the stem
and the base of the stem. It became clear that a lot of “cluster”
picture I saw may actually be from only one or two plants.
▴ New shoots coming out of the plant’s base, 2020-07-12
If you look carefully you might find some white spots on the leaves in above images. I suspect it’s a kind of fungal disease. Luckily they didn’t seem to have material impact on the plants.
Platycodon may produce flower in first year
I was worried that I may not get any flowers this year because they grew so
slowly. However, around end of July some flower buds started to appear on the
top of the stems. I was so excited to see the “balloons” growing
bigger and bigger.
▴ Multiple “balloons” formed on the top of stems, 2020-08-01
One day the biggest balloon suddenly got some shade of purple. I knew it was
going to pop but when? By the way, the balloon flower is typically associated
with autumn by Japanese so the timing is right on the spot.
▴ The balloon could pop anytime, 2020-08-02
The next day, the flower opened while I was watering other plants in the morning.
▴ The fully opened balloon flower, 2020-08-02
There are more flower buds and new shoots growing. Hopefully this autumn I’ll
have a lot of new balloon flowers!
▴ Another flower bud that will mature anytime, 2020-08-08
Do you grow balloon flowers? Do you have tips you want to share? Drop an email or leave some comments :)