#721 Lychnis coronaria Common Names: rose campion, mullein pink, Dusty Miller Family: Caryophyllaceae (pink Family) Get link to this Profile or click for data record #721 e-mail this page

Rose campion with neon-pink flowers and silver-gray foliage add vibrant color to the garden!

'Alba' has white flowers. 'Atrosanguinea' has dark red flowers. 'Abbotswood Rose' is a compact plant, to 2 ft (0.6 m) tall, with bright magenta flowers; it may in fact be a hybrid between rose campion and another species of Lychnis. 'Flore-plena' has double flowers. 'Oculata' has white flowers with pink centers.

Location
Rose campion is native to northern Africa, southern Europe and the Middle East, where it grows in scrub and rocky hillsides. It has been cultivated in Europe for centuries and has become naturalized in some areas of Europe and North America.

Culture
Rose campion is easy to grow in poor, dry soils. It does well in limey or calcareous soils and actually may do better and live longer in poor soils than in rich, loamy soils!
Light: Rose campion does best in full sun but tolerates partial shade.
Moisture: Rose campion tolerates dry soils and droughty conditions, but performs best with supplemental watering during dry spells.
Hardiness: USDA Zones 3-8. Rose campion is usually a perennial, surviving winters in zones 5-8. It may not survive Zone 3 and 4 winters but will usually reseed itself.
Propagation: Sow seeds in place in autumn or a few weeks before the last expected frost in spring. The seeds need to be chilled before they germinate. Just press the seeds into the soil; do not bury them. Rose campion usually self sows abundantly if all the flowers aren't removed before they go to seed, and if the ground beneath the plants is not mulched too thickly. In spring, just thin the little seedlings around the old plant, and transplant some to other areas.

Rose campion is perfect for hot sunny flower beds.

Features
With a backdrop of silver-gray foliage, the vivid, almost neon, pink or purple flowers of rose campion really stand out. Use a group of rose campions to add a dramatic accent of bright color to a bed or border. Even when not in bloom, rose campion's downy silver-gray foliage is a useful foil in flower beds or simply to accent green foliage.

The generic name, Lychnis, is from the Greek for "lamp", and refers to the fact that the felt-like leaves were formerly used for lamp wicks. The common name, Dusty Miller, is used for many plants that have wooly, gray foliage. In fact, Hortus Third lists seven other plants that are sometimes called dusty miller: Senecio cineraria, S. viravira, Chrysanthemum ptarmiciflorum, Centaurea cineraria, C. gymnocarpa, C. ragusiana, and Artemisia stelleriana.

Steve Christman 7/6/00; updated 11/15/03

Copyright 1996 - 2008 Floridata.com LC Tallahassee, Florida USA