The Platycodon Grandiflora’s Beauty is More Than Skin Deep

The purple, blue, pink and white flowers of Balloon Flower plants, Platycodon grandiflora, are a lovely addition to the yard and garden landscape. All varieties of balloon flowers are perennials with the added advantage of being able to grow in full sun to partial shade for many years of enjoyment.

The unique pillow puff or balloon shape is a favorite of many a gardener. The flowers puff up like tiny balloons as the flower grows until the blossom bursts with a pop to open into a five-petalled star-shaped flowers. Some are double petaled, providing 10-petaled double start shaped flowers.

These plants hold a surprise: the long taproot is edible and medicinal and used extensively in Asian cooking and medicine.

How to Grow Balloon Flower Plants

Balloon Flower Size

• Dwarf Balloon Flower Plants grow an average size of 8″ height x 18″ around
• Common Balloon Flower Plants grow an average size of 24″ tall x 12″ wide

Balloon Flower Varieties

The dwarf variety are a perfect compact plant for growing in pots or window boxes. The average size at maturity is a plant height of 8″ by 18″ wide.  

Cultivars of Platycodon grandiflora

Take your pick of purple, blue and/or white balloon flowers. Each has it’s beauty grown alone or intermingled for a multicolored display, depending on your landscape setting and goals.

• Astra double blue
• Fuji Blue – tends to be the one most people call “purple balloon flowers”
• Fuji white (pictured below)
• Komachi – baby blue
• Sentimental Blue
• Hakone Double Blue
• Double Pink
• Double White
• Mother of Pearl
• Sentimental Blue.
• Apoyama.

Uses in Landscapes

Bell Flowers are excellent flowers for flower gardens and an excellent addition to landscapes and borders. The dwarf variety can be good ground covers leading up to the full size varieties around foundation areas needing coverage, and especially lovely around accent rocks and boulders.

This regular size balloon plants are a perfect mid-height border plant as well as an accent plant for hedges.

GardensAll community member, Larry Gray, contributed the next photo.

Larry said, “I purchased 2 pots of purple and all purchased blooms were purple , then the seeds came back as purple or white !  It’s an excellent, self multiplying perennial.”

Care for Balloon Plants

• DIFFICULTY: Easy
• LIGHT: Full to partial shade
• SOIL:  Average or rich soil, well drained, slightly acidic
• WATER: adequate water, moist soil –
  • can tolerate occasional drought
  • may get root rot if too wet
• SIZE:  Average height 24″ inches tall, (range 12″-36″ inches tall) by 12″ inches around
• FERTILIZER: mulch in fall – pine straw is a good choice if you need more acidity
  • Average Soil – None needed
  • Poor Soil – apply slow release fertilizer in spring
• FLOWERS / FLOWERING:
  • Reliable bloomers with (an area dependent) late spring – late summer bloom time
  • Colors of balloon flower include blue, pink and white flowers
  • Excellent cut flowers

About Balloon Flower

• SPECIES: herbaceous flowering perennial plant
• FAMILY: Campanulaceae  (includes bellflower and lobelia)
• GENUS:  Platycodon (lone member of) – Greek meaning: Broad Bell (platys = broad + kodon = bell)
• GROW ZONES: 5-9

Balloon Flower Origin

Like balloons released to travel far and wide, so too has the lovely balloon flower. A native plant of East Asia (China, Korea, Japan and Eastern Siberia), today, Platycodon grandiflora is popular globally as an ornamental plant.

If you enjoy exploring the more expansive uses of plants you may enjoy the following information.

Common Names for Balloon Flower — Platycodon Grandiflorus

• Bell Flower
• Balloon Flower (English)
  • Chinese bellflower (jiegeng)
  • Japanese bellflower  (kikyo)
  • Korean bellflower (doraji)

Propagating Balloon Flowers

Balloon flower plants easily self seed and propagate from roots and seeds.

Propagation by Seed

You can buy balloon flower seeds, or, if you already have plants, you can harvest the seeds from your existing plants. After the blooms die, collect the dried brown pods at the end of the stem. You can place the seed pods in a paper bag and label, or whatever is your favorite seeding storying system.

Alternately, you can leave the pods to drop naturally and self seed, or help them out by deadheading and dropping them wherever you want them to grow. Each dried pod has hundreds of tiny black and brown seeds reminiscent of grains of black rice.

Propagation by Transplanting

If propagating by roots, gently dig out the earth surrounding the outside of a clump of balloon flowers away from the main body of roots. Let your eyes guide you by following the natural development of the plant and gently separating and cutting the roots in a sparse section between the main taproots. Avoid cutting the large taproot, (think dandelion, parsnip, carrot like roots) for best results. although a but or nicked taproot can also survive.

Once you have a clump with a taproot place the balloon flower plant into its new hole prepared with compost. Did down deep enough for the taproot, place plant and fill soil around it. Water immediately and regularly while the plant establishes itself in its new home.

Be sure to cover and water the existing plant to keep it protected while it recovered from operation.

Self Propagation by Spreading

CAUTION: Balloon flower plants can be invasive, so keep in mind how they might spread when you plant them. If you don’t want that, you can collect seed pods to keep them from dropping and establishing roots or plant them in pots. However, they’re strong growers and seeds can be carried beyond pots, and roots can send out new shoots.

How to Grow Balloon Flower From Seed

It’s easy to grow balloon flowers from seed. You can sow them directly in a spot or pot with sun to partial shade after the last spring frost. Sprinkle seeds on top of a good bed of about 3 inches rich soil or compost. Water and keep them moist as they’re growing.

You should see new balloon flower sprouts within two weeks and flowers in the first season. Just be sure to keep them moist but not soaked until they get strong and deep enough to thrive.

Can You Grow Balloon Flowers in Pots

Yes! Balloon flowers grow well in pots indoors and out, and do best indoors when placed in a sunny window.

Is Balloon Flower Poisonous?

CAUTION: Some sources list the balloon flower root as poisonous, and yet within the same source, maylist the root as edible. Likely this confusion has to do with the fact that balloon flower root has potent medicinal properties, and any medicine taken in excess, can become toxic.

What’s clear is that the Platycodon grandiflorus has been used for centuries for both food and medicine.

If you treat balloon flower root as the medicinal herb or condiment that it is, which means a sprinkling of small amounts and not as a main ingredient or dish, you should be fine. However, as the saying goes, “One man’s medicine is another man’s poison.”

So whenever trying anything new, always do your research, consult with experts and if you proceed, start with the smallest recommended dosage.

Most medicine taken in excess can become toxic. Same for herbs. So research and consult books and experts to be safe.

Is Balloon Flower Edible?

Yes! All parts of balloon flower plants have been used for food and medicine in Asian countries for centuries. The prominent medicinal properties are in the root of the balloon flower plant and harvested in spring or fall of 3-5 year old plants.

However, the balloon flowers, young, tender shoots and leaves are also used in food and medicine.

Balloon Flower Plant Edible Uses

In Korea, the balloon flower root is eaten raw, cooked and medicinally in teas and tinctures like this Platycodon grandiflorus extract.

• ROOTS –
  • Raw, cut into strips, seasoned and eaten as a salad
  • Cooked in soups, stews, and dishes
  • Preserved in vinegar and syrups
  • Brewed in sake and medicinal teas
• LEAVES & SHOOTS –
  • Boiled or steamed, the young leaves are eaten in salads or as a vegetable like spinach
• FLOWERS – blossoms add a mild sweetness, plus color and texture to foods such as:
  • Salads
  • Stuffed
  • Candied
  • Dipped in butter
  • A beautiful edible garnish for dishes and desserts

SOURCE: Eat The Weeds in their edible cultivated flowers

We’re just getting warmed up in learning about the amazing balloon flower plants. We’ve been growing ours for years but only recently discovered the medicinal and edible benefits. So we’ve ordered some balloon flower root tincture from a reputable company selling it on Amazon to try rather than dig up our plants for the roots.

“Balloon flower roots are used as food too. I make a fresh kimchi salad out of them.”
~Debie Baugher, seasoned gardener

Balloon Flower – Bellflower Recipes

• If your interested in trying a spicy kimchi recipe, you could substitute the daikon for balloon flower root.
• And her’s one for Sautéed Bellflower Roots, a Korean dish called Doraj Namul.

CAUTION: some sources list the balloon flower root as poisonous, and yet within the same source, can list the root as edible. What’s clear is that the Platycodon grandiflorus has been used for centuries for both food and medicine. Yet, as the saying goes, “One man’s medicine is another man’s poison.” So whenever trying anything new, do your research, consult with experts and if you proceed, start with a small amount.

Medicinal Benefits of Balloon Flower Roots

Traditionally, all parts of the balloon plant were used for medicinal benefits in Asia. Today, balloon flowers are commercially cultivated for the roots, which are harvested from 2-5 year old plants. 

Medicinal Properties of Platycodon Grandiflorus

The beneficial medicinal properties found in bell flower is extensive. We’re providing a brief outline here, and including links to extensive research on Platycodon grandiflorus.

Some of the active medicinal properties of balloon flower root include saponins, volatile, betulin acid, oils, sterols, insulin and glucose and have been found to be beneficial or promising for numerous ailments. 

Balloon Flower Health Benefits

• Alzheimer’s 
• Antimicrobial
• Antibacterial ^[1]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5524553/
• Anti-inflammatory^[2]https://bmccomplementmedtherapies.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6882-12-173
• Antioxidant
• Cancer
• Cholesterol lowering effects
• Cytotoxic effects against cancer cells
• Histamine inhibitor
• Neuroprotective activity
• Obesity

SOURCES:
Study on Platycosides from the Roots of Platycodon grandiflorum and Their Health Benefits
BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies

Used in Korea for:

• Asthma
• Bronchitis
• Diabetes
• Hypertension
• Inflammatory diseases
• Tuberculosis

Used in China for:

• Common colds
  • Chest congestion
  • Cough suppressant
  • Expectorant
  • Sore throat
• Tonsillitis

SOURCES: BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies

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