British Columbia: Looking for Campanula piperi - Olympic bellflower

This alpine plant is native to the Olympic Mts. of Washington. Wikipedia claims it has also been seen on Vancouver Island, but I could not trace the reference to any actual information. However, I'm optimistic that it may actually be growing somewhere in BC. I'm wondering if any BC gardeners are aware of specimens that may be planted in publicly accessible rock gardens/alpine gardens or sitting in nurseries around Vancouver or Victoria. Thanks much for any clues.

 

You may want to inquire at Alpine Garden Club of British Columbia. They hold plant sales and seed exchanges and this plant had been available some years ago.

 

50 records presented here, none from Canada despite a number of different Canadian herbaria being members.
CPNWH Search Results (pnwherbaria.org)
Otherwise Wikipedia gives a link to the Burke Herbarium Image Collection in support of the assertion that the species has been seen on Vancouver Island; I poked around in the Burke site and found no confirmation.

 

Many thanks to Junglekeeper, your suggestion is exactly the kind of tip I'm looking for. I will follow up with AGCBC and VIRAGS now that I'm aware they exist.

To Ron B: you had exactly the same experience I alluded to in my post. I guess the great thing about the Internet is that it frustrates us faster.

Still hoping that someone may have eyeballed this plant in a BC garden or nursery in recent memory. Thanks

 

If you search the species name on the web alpine gardening enthusiast site commentary comes up; the plant has tended to be one of those known in the past for not taking to lowland conditions when cultivation there is attempted. I have seen it in the habitat myself, it is not encountered on the route I have walked until a body gets up to where the forest falls away and there is a lot of open rocky surfaces for the bellflower to grow on.

 

Paul Spriggs (co-author of the recently published "The Crevice Garden" could possibly help you. He is an avid plant explorer, photographer, mountaineer, owner of Spriggs Gardens Landscaping Company and Past President of the Vancouver Island Rock and Alpine Garden Society (VIRAGS) virags.news@gmail.com .

 

Margot - great tip, thanks very much.

 

Great presentation by Paul Spriggs. I bought "The Crevice Garden" but waiting for a special cup of coffee to enjoy looking through it.

 

For anyone following this thread or any enthusiast who comes across it, here is what I think is a successful wrap-up to my quest:

With the assistance of the Olympic Chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society, I have found a nursery organization on the Olympic Peninsula that is attempting to propagate the plant.

With the assistance of some Forum members I have followed a number of leads to local rock/alpine garden organizations with the following results.

I have made contact with two members of the Northwestern Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society in Seattle who both have this plant growing in pots.

With the help of the Alpine Garden Club of BC in Vancouver I have discovered that someone affiliated with that Club was propagating this plant in 2002 and 2012 because the plant and/or seeds were being offered at the annual sales event in those years. I have yet to discover who it was, but I think it is possible someone in BC is still working with this plant.

The book Alpine Plants of North America by Graham Nicholls, 2002, Timber Press, is a very valuable resource for dealing with this plant. Indeed the two members of NARGS whom I found to have the plant in pots seem to be following Nicholls' instructions for propagation and care to the letter and so are able to have the plant growing well in wet lowlands, despite being removed from its native environment.

Thanks to all who contributed to my search.