Campanula americana (Tall Bellflower)

One of the brightest, showiest shade plants in my woodland patch, though not a perennial. Tall Bellflower is a self-sowing biennial plant. During the first year, it produces a basal rosette of heart-shaped leaves. The following year a tall stem arises from the increasing base of deep green foliage. The three-to-five foot spike has pointed oblong leaves and is covered in bright blue blooms. Because it readily self seeds, you may not even notice a lapse !