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Bell Shaped Flowers For Gardening [Now With 15+ Varieties To Pick From!]

Bell-shaped flowers, originally brought from Europe as ornamental plants, are now used by gardeners to revamp their boring gardens.

Generally, there are more than 500 bell shaped flower species in the Northern Hemisphere. Some popular flowers include Fox Gloves, Bluebells, Coral Bells, Lily of the Valley, and Bells of Ireland.

Many bell shaped flowers are annuals, biennials, or even perennials, and you can grow them in lower USDA zones.

Stick to the article and choose the best ones for your garden from this list.

15+ Bell-Shaped Flowers For Home Gardens

Flowers that look like bells range in different heights, which makes them ideal for gardens, hanging baskets, and pots.

The bell shaped flowers owe their name to the precise arrangement of petals resembling little ‘bells’ hanging from the stalk. 

Moreover, the shades of flowers that look like bells range from orange, red, yellow, white, purple, blue, and pink. 

Bell shaped flowers serve aesthetic significance and are crucial for drawing garden pollinators like bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds into your garden.

So, let’s go through a list of beautiful flowers that look like bells for your year-round blooming garden.

1. Bluebells (Hyacinthoides species)

Bluebells indicate the arrival of spring. But, to see these flowers bloom in early spring, you must plant them during the fall.

Within 3-4 months, they reach 10-24 inches tall and beget blue to purple bell-shaped flowers on the flowering stalk.

Additionally, they resemble other blue bell flowers, but their stems adorn beautiful linear, alternate green leaves.

They can bloom vigorously if planted under the full sun but can tolerate partial shade and a little frost within zones 4-10.

However, be careful not to overwater them. 

2. Bellflowers (Campanula species)

Bellflowers have cup-shaped, tubular blooms that dangle down from the flowering stem of the plant.

The plant begets small bell-shaped purple flowers, but some varieties also wield pink or white bell-shaped flowers.

Further, their leaves are spatula-shaped, equally decorative with dented, serrated, or entire margins, and leathery.

Most species of Bellflowers are zone 4-10 perennials and grow in wide climatic zones.

Some alpine varieties are only 2 inches tall, making them excellent as garden blankets.

Other Campanula plants can grow up to 2 meters in height, but their growth also depends on how much care they get.

3. Foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea)

Usually, most Foxglove varieties bear trumpet-shaped pink flowers, while others have funnel-shaped ones.

They produce purple, pink, yellow, red, or white bell-shaped flowers on tall stems. Additionally, these flowers have brown speckles inside their cavity.

With broad, soft, bluntly toothed edges, and spear-shaped leaves, they complement perfectly with colorful blooms of the plant.

Some varieties can reach 1-2 meters tall. They grow and flower abundantly within the USDA zones 3-8.

Foxgloves can self-seed, and it’s okay to deadhead them if you don’t want any more plants growing in your garden.

4. Bells of Ireland (Moluccella laevis)

Bells of Ireland are also popularly known as ‘shell flowers,’ which people especially grow for their strange green blooms.

These plants actually have green sepals surrounding a small and fragrant white flower. They bear broad-toothed leaves attaching to the thorny and square stems.

These green and white bell-shaped flowers bloom on long stems attached to a 3-4 feet tall plant.

Since shell flowers are self-seed, they will return yearly if you let them remain in your garden.

Moreover, they are ideal for USDA zones as low as 2. This makes them frost tolerant and a summer bloomer in these zones.

Iris people use Bells of Ireland as a gift for a graduation, a new job and good luck.

5. Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis)

Lily of the Valley is a fast-growing perennial herb that resides in the cool areas of the northern hemisphere.

White bell-shaped flowers are perennial and grow along one side of the flowering stalk, making the plant slouch. Such an inflorescence is called a raceme. 

Flowers are sweet and perfect for inviting bees into your garden all year round, but they are poisonous.

Because of this crouching habit and frost tolerance, it’s excellent for ground cover within zones 3-9.

Green, smooth, and spatulate leaves arise from the center of the clusters present below the flowering stalk.

6. Snowdrops (Galanthus species)

Snowdrops are tough, frost-tolerant herbaceous plants whose flowers indicate the first sign of spring when they bloom.

When in season, the plant grows 8-15 cm tall and gracefully atop white bell-shaped flowers which hang from tall flowering stems.

Each Snowdrop plant bears 2-3 strappy leaves arising from the base of the plant.

They are zone 3-8 perennials that are hardy and require less care in winter.

There are around 20 species of Snowdrops, and some feature flowers with a yellow or green tinge.

7. Bluebills (Clematis pitcheri)

Unlike other herbaceous plants, Bluebills are unique as it is a vining plant.

These plants take purple bell-shaped flowers on a vine, but the tips of the recurved petals are creamy, arranging themselves in the shape of a pitcher with a narrow top and broad base.

Bluebill’s leaves are compound, consisting of 2-8 ovate or lanceolate leaflets, making them adorable for any garden.

One of the features of Bluebills is their long flowering season from late spring to summer and fall from zones 5-9.

Moreover, people often employ the vining habit of the plant (10-13 feet) to decorate garden walls and rock gardens.

8. Angel’s Trumpet (Burgmansia species)

This plant begets trumpet-shaped purple, white, light orange, yellow, or orange bell-shaped tubular.

It can reach a staggering 9-10 feet tall with equally large bell-shaped flowers drooping from a long stem.

The leaves of Angel’s Trumpet are large, broad, and ovate to elliptical, having leathery shine and undulated margins in some varieties.

Despite its rarity, it is a perennial plant that can always return yearly if you can get your hands on just one plant.

As a tropical plant, it thrives well in zones 8-10 and has a long blooming season from spring until fall.

This plant comprises only 7 species and is sadly extinct in the wild.

9. Coral Bells (Heuchera species)

Coral Bells receive their name due to white to pinkish-red bell-shaped flowers on tall flowering stems rising from the ground from late spring to early summer.

In the blooming season, the flowering spikes of the plant reach 1-3 feet tall, while the rest is just 6-16 inches high.

Additionally, the leaves of Coral Bells feature various colors and are palmately lobed.

The plants are shade-loving perennials that flourish within zones 4-9.

Besides, Coral Bell’s vibrant yellow, purple, pink, and green flowers can attract pollinators to your gardens.

10. Fuchsia

Although perennial, Fuchsia can also behave as an annual in colder areas with long winters.

These bell-shaped flowers consist of 4 smaller purple petals in the center, surrounded by 4 longer red petals.

The plant bears opposite leaves set out in whorls, lens-shaped, and sometimes brace serration along the margins.

They bloom from summer until fall in zones 6-7, but you can extend this by regularly fertilizing the plants.

Native Americans used Fuchsia roots to dye wool, while The Maori took the Fuchsia pollen for makeup.

11. Snakeshead Fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris)

Unlike any other bell-shaped flowers, Snakeshead Fritillary has unique checkered blooms, so sometimes, it is also called the “chess flower.”

Chess flowers range from pink and purple to burgundy and white, forming a distinct drooping posture.

These flowers resemble the leaves of lily plants having narrow edges, grass-like and green, and arranged in wide spacing in the stem.

Likewise, Snakeshead flowers in spring from zones 3-8. They become 6-12 inches tall with blooms atop thin stems.

Chess flowers can be flawless border plants and elevate the aesthetic décor of your garden.

12. Grape Hyacinths (Muscari species)

Muscari is a mid-spring blooming plant with clustered grape-like purple flowers on the top of the stem.

Grape Hyacinth flowers are bell-shaped, with fleshy, long, strappy, green, and narrow leaves emerging from the base.

Each inflorescence consists of 40 individual flowers. These flowers can also appear in white, pink, or greenish-blue colors.

They are well-adapted in USDA zones 3-9, so you can consider them frost-hardy species.

They are popular flowering plants as they re-emerge in mid-fall after they die in summer.

13. Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia)

Also known commonly as Calico Bush, Mountain Laurels produce beautiful hexagonal bell-shaped flowers having a towering height of 1.5-9 feet.

Usually, these plants produce white flowers with subtle hints of pink. But other varieties also boast maroon, red, or dark pink blooms.

They can bloom better in full sun but are also shade tolerant, but for consistent blooming, set them under partial shade.

Laurels are ideal for USDA zones 4-9, flowering in late spring until summer in these areas.

Additionally, the leaves have an alternate arrangement. Each leaf is elliptical, with an entire margin, waxy-green shine, and pointed tips.

14. Twin Flowers (Linnaea borealis)

Twin Flowers get their name from 2 pink bell-shaped flowers that grow in pairs and droop down from the tip of the Y-shaped stem.

They fit as ground covers in late spring to early summer when the plant bestows the season’s first flowers.

The flowers are also equally fragrant, complementing its looks, and can invite pollinators into your garden or patios.

Additionally, this frost-tolerant herbaceous perennial is hardy to zones 3-8.  

Besides, the plant leaves nearly attain a circular shape with notched tips. In some varieties, leaves arise in pairs, oppositely arranged in the stem.

15. Daffodils (Narcissus species)

Gardeners plant Daffodils via bulbs in the fall, and they bloom in next late winter or early spring.

Traditionally, Daffodils have yellow bell-shaped flowers, but they are also available in orange, pink, white, or green. When fully matured, the flowers droop from the stem.

Daffodils have many strap-shaped, ligulate, and narrow basal leaves surrounding the flowering stalks.

You can grow Daffodils as frost-tolerant border plants in zones 3-8.

There are 25 different species of Daffodil, along with 13,000 hybrids, which bloom for up to 50 years.

16. White Mountain Heather (Cassiope species)

White Mountain Heather, or Western Moss Heather, is a perennial sub-shrub with white bell-shaped flowers.

But avid gardeners appreciate Heathers for flowers and their scaly leaves covering the entire stem.

Moreover, red calyxes support the decor of the flowers from below, enabling you to set a contrast wherever you resolve to grow them.

Normally, they attain a small size of 0.5-1 foot tall and grow in dense groups.

Due to their growing habit, Heathers are small woody plants, growing as perennials from zones 6-7.

7 Additional Bell Shaped Flowers

The following list hosts the rest of the bell-shaped flowers that people adore.

FlowersGrowth RequirementsTrait & Use
Penstemon (Perennials)Sunlight: Full Sun to Partial Shade

Soil & pH: Well-draining moist soil with 5-8 pH

Hardiness Zone: 4-9
Flower Color: Blue, Purple, Pink, or Red

Use: Great for attracting pollinators

Flowering Season: Spring to Summer
Canterbury Bell Flower (Biennials or Perennials)Sunlight: Partial Shade

Soil & pH: Well-draining moist soil with 6-8 pH

Hardiness Zone: 4-10
Flower Color: Violet-blue

Use: Border plants

Flowering Season: Late Spring or Early Summer
Swamp Doghobble (Annuals or Perennials)Sunlight: Full Sun

Soil & pH: Moist, cool soil with 5-6 pH

Hardiness Zone: 5-9
Flower Color: White

Use: Slope planting, Near ponds or Woodland gardens

Flowering Season: Spring to Early Fall
Tulips (Perennials)Sunlight: Full Sun to Partial Shade

Soil & pH: Well-draining with 6-6.5 pH

Hardiness Zone: 3-8
Flower Color: Pink, Red, Yellow, White, or Orange

Use: Ornamental garden plant

Flowering Season: Spring
Snowdrop Tree (Perennials)Sunlight: Full to Partial Shade

Soil & pH: Well-draining moist soil with 5-6 pH

Hardiness Zone: 6-9
Flower Color: White

Use: Lawn planting, Privacy plant or Woodland gardens

Flowering Season: Spring
Persian Lilies (Perennials)Sunlight: Full Sun

Soil & pH: Well-draining moist soil with <6 pH (acidic)

Hardiness Zone: 4-8
Flower Color: Green, Ivory, Deep Red, or Deep Purple

Use: Deer and Rabbit resistant

Flowering Season: Spring
Korean Bell Flowers (Perennials)Sunlight: Full Sun to Partial Shade

Soil & pH: Moist well-draining soil with 6.5-7 pH

Hardiness Zone: 4-8
Flower Color: Shades of White and Pink

Use: Speedy growing ornamental garden plant

Flowering Season: Mid to Late Summer

Bell Shaped Flowers That Attract Hummingbirds

While choosing flowers for your garden next time, be generous to all the microfauna visiting there, either for permanent settlement or to come by periodically.

Hummingbirds are important pollinators that assist flowering plants in dispersing their pollen and aiding reproduction. 

However, Hummingbirds only dwell in distinct flowers. Their feeding habit allows them to use their siphon-like beaks to reach the nectar present in the flower.

Hence, bell-shaped, aromatic, and nectar-producing flowers are what hummingbirds love. 

Image illustrates tips for attracting hummingbirds in gardens full of flowers that look like bells
Hummingbirds prefer plants with bell-shaped flowers, as they offer easy access to nectar.

If you want to start a garden and don’t want them to feel left out, try planting these bell-shaped flowers that attract hummingbirds.

FlowersUSDA Zones
Cardinal Flowers2-9
Bee Balms4-9
Hosta3-9
Catmint3-9
Agastache4-9
Eastern Red Columbine3-8
Trumpet Honeysuckle4-10
Salvia3-10
Lupine4-8
Petunia10-11
Delphinium3-9
Trumpet Creeper4-10

From Editorial Team

By considering all their requirements, you can encourage the plants to set vivid and colorful flowers that look like bells.

However, pick the suitable plant to grow depending on your living zone.

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