Balloon flower
Platycodon grandiflorus
Also called Platycodon, Chinese bellflower and Balloon bellflower
Garden plant · PerennialsIt is the last thing in the border to appear in spring — often not until May. Mark where it is in autumn, because the usual way one dies is a fork through the crown in April while its owner is sure it is dead.
Care at a glance
- Ease
- Easy
- Water
- Once a weekWater the ground — water at the base, in the morning, not over the leaves.
- Light
- Full sun to part shade
- Feed
- Every 45 days
- Humidity
- Average
- Hardiness
- Hardy — a very cold winter RHS H6, to -20°C
- Size
- 0.55 m tall · 0.35 m across
- Lifecycle
- Perennial
- Origin
- East Asia
Is it safe for pets and people?
No animal-poison authority lists this plant either way.
Nobody has checked this one against a source for us yet, so treat it as unknown rather than safe.
Neither the ASPCA catalogue nor the RHS harmful A–Z names this plant, and both were checked. That is an absence and not a clean bill.
Checked against ASPCA and RHS on 2026-09-22. Where a source says nothing, we say nothing.
A guide, not veterinary or medical advice. If a pet or a person has eaten a plant and you are worried, call your vet or doctor now — don’t wait for signs to appear. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
First signs of trouble
- Bare soil where it was, in April, when everything either side is up. It is the last thing in the border to appear and the commonest way one is lost is a fork through the crown by an owner who has decided it is dead.Dug up while dormant · disorder
- The few shoots that do appear in May are bitten off level with the soil overnight, which then looks like proof that it died over winter.Slug damage · pest