10 Plants That Look Like Bells

Many plants are described as having bell-like flowers or leaves. And these bell plants come in all different shapes, sizes, and colors. So chances are you’ve already seen one or two plants with flowers that look like bells. But I bet there are more plants that you don’t know about.

There are too many plants that look like bells to list them all at once. So here are some interesting (and perhaps lesser-known) plants that resemble bells to inspire you for your next garden design:

  • Foxglove – The flowers are bell-shaped.
  • Snowdrops – White flowers that resemble bells.
  • Bellflower – These purple flowers look like tiny bells.
  • Bells Of Ireland – Strings of green flowers that look like bells.
  • Lily Of The Valley – Tiny white flowers that resemble hanging bells.
  • White Mountain Heather – Tiny, white, and pink bell-shaped flowers.
  • Coral Bells – Clusters of red bell-shaped flowers.
  • Canterbury Bells – Brightly colored bell-shaped flowers.
  • Bluebells – Long bell-shaped flowers.
  • Swamp Doghobble – Strings of white bell-shaped flowers.

As you can see, these plants have flowers that look like bells in all the above cases. But let’s consider each plant in more detail, so you know when and how to plant these plants resembling bells.

1. Foxglove (Digitalis)

Foxgloves
Yay Foxgloves

Foxgloves are perennial plants native to Northwest Africa, Western Europe, and Asia. These vibrant plants produce long flower spikes with brightly colored purple, white, pink, or yellow flowers. The flowers often have spots on them on the inside. They are long and bell-shaped.

The flower petals are long with soft, semi-pleated edges. Foxgloves produce only one flower spike annually, so cutting the spikes off to put in a vase will cause the plant to be bare. Foxgloves grow about two feet tall and bloom from May to June.

2. Snowdrops (Galanthus)

Snowdrops
Tim Green Snowdrops

Snowdrops are beautiful, tiny plants native to Europe and Asia. These bright green plants produce delicate flowers with six petals shaped like tiny, open bells. The flowers face downward, drooping from their stems.

Snowdrops have three large flower petals and three smaller ones with green markings that occur in succession. Snowdrops are small plants. They grow only about three inches tall, and the flowers are less than one inch. Each snowdrop produces one flower stalk and two or three leaves.

3. Bellflower (Campanula)

Bell Flower
Monster Bell Flower

As the name suggests, bellflowers produce flowers that look like bells. Bellflowers are native to Eastern North America. They grow up to six feet tall and produce blue, pink, red, or white flowers. The flowers are shaped like bells, with five pointed fused flower petals.

The petals curve outwards slightly to allow one to clearly see the yellow stamen inside. The flowers typically grow to be about one or two inches big. Bellflowers are ideal for groundcovers since they are spread by seed and underground rhizomes.

4. Bells Of Ireland (Moluccella Laevis)

Moluccella Laevis
Vahe Martirosyan Moluccella Laevis

Despite their names, Bells of Ireland are actually native to the Caucasus, Syria, and Turkey. These plants produce several flower spikes covered in green, papery, bell-shaped flowers. Bells of Ireland are unique in the sense that the entire plant is one color, making it a striking background plant for your garden.

One Bell of Ireland plant can produce between eight and ten stems. Each stem is covered with green, c-cupped leaves surrounding the tiny, white flowers. The leaves look like the outside of the bell, while the flowers look like the inside.

5. Lily Of The Valley (Convalaria Majalis)

Lily of the valley
Yay Lily of the valley

The lily of the valley is another plant with bell-shaped flowers. This tiny plant grows six to twelve inches tall and is also native to Europe and Asia. The lily of the valley produces tiny, white, bell-shaped flowers. These flowers also droop down from their stems.

Each flowering stem produces between five and fifteen bell-shaped white flowers. The flowers have six fused white petals with white stamens on the inside. The flowers are broad and round. They are broadest at the base and slightly narrower at the end. Each flower is about one inch big.

6. White Mountain Heather (Cassiope Mertensiana)

White Mountain Heather Cassiope mertensiana
Murray Foubister White Mountain Heather (Cassiope mertensiana)

White mountain heather flowers look remarkably similar to lily of the valley flowers. Like the lily of the valley, white mountain heathers produce small, bell-shaped white flowers. White mountain heather plants are native to North America, occurring between Alaska and California.

White mountain heathers grow about eleven inches tall. You can easily identify them by their odd, scale-like leaves. The stems above the flowers are pinkish in color. The flowers are also about one inch big. Each plant produces around ten flowers.

The white mountain heather makes an excellent ground cover, and the interesting leaves and attractive flowers make it an excellent garden plant.

7. Coral Bells (Heuchera Sanguinea)

Coral Bells
Patrick Standish Coral Bells

Coral Bells are also native to North America. Coral bells are also known as Alumroots. Coral bells grow between eight and eighteen inches tall. These plants produce long, thin flowering stems filled with tiny, coral-colored bell-shaped flowers. Coral bells bloom in the spring, and while the flowers are beautiful, the foliage is just as interesting.

Coral bells typically have dark green, coral, or brown foliage. The foliage is low-growing, close to the soil. The leaves are broad and maple-looking. Coral bells are lively plants and are fantastic plants to keep in your garden if you want an attractive bell-shaped flower.

8. Canterbury Bells (Campanula Medium)

Canterbury bells are native to Southern Europe. These plants have larger flowers that face upwards instead of down. Canterbury bells come in many different colors – purple, pink, white, and red. The flowers have yellow stamens and a distinct bell shape.

Canterbury bells grow about two feet tall. Like other bellflowers, Canterbury bells have five fused petals with a rounded, flared shape at the edge. Canterbury bells are a biennial plant, meaning that the flowers take two years to complete a single lifecycle. As a result, Canterbury bells produce multiple flower stems covered in these beautiful bell-shaped flowers.

9. Bluebells (Hyacinthoides)

Bluebells
Rob Hodgkins Bluebells

Bluebells are some of the most popular bell-shaped plants. They are native to Europe, from Spain to the British Isles. As the name suggests, these plants produce bell-shaped flowers in various shades of blue and purple. Bluebells grow about two feet tall and produce multiple flower stems.

Bluebells bloom in the late spring, making them an excellent alternative to some earlier blossoming flowers. More than twenty flowers can grow on a single plant. Bluebell flowers are long and droop downwards, making them look like hanging bells.

Bluebells have a special symbolic meaning in Europe, especially in Ireland. It is said that bluebells are the favorite flowers of fairies.

10. Swamp Doghobble (Eubotrys Racemosa)

Eubotrys Racemosa
Scott Zona Eubotrys Racemosa

Despite its unfortunate name, the swamp doghobble is a beautiful plant with white bell-shaped flowers. You can find the swamp doghobble growing wild in eastern North America. This plant grows three to six feet tall. It has interesting flower stems that grow horizontally.

The white bell-shaped flowers look like they hang from the plant in rows. Each plant produces around five or six flower stems (called arrays). The flowers are between seven and 9 inches long. Most flowers are white, although some also have a pinkish hue.

Swamp doghobbles are yet another interesting bell-shaped choice if you are looking for a more interesting plant than the typical bell flowers.