Trachelium asperuloides  - A tiny campanula relative, apparently not from alpine elevations but from the "warm cliffs of Greece" (Farrer). It was a favourite of Roy Elliott and one of the first "challenges" I was given to try. Generally grown in the alpine house the trick is to cut it back after flowering, or the natural die back of the flowering stems means that it faces the winter covered in dead leaves. Also cutting back creates a tighter cushion. It's one of those plants that sits there not doing much and then for two or three weeks in June/July it is a wonder of powder blue flowers at about an inch high (at maximum). I grow it in a similar way to campanulas, repotting every year in March and keeping it just moist in the winter. Propagation is usually by division, it actually has short runners or suckers and you often find a little cushion growing at the edge of the pot when you repot. I take this off and start it in a very sandy compost.

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