Name: Silene coronaria aka Lychnis coronaria aka Rose Campion

Type of Plant: A cottage garden plant that is grown as an annual, biennial or short-lived perennial. This is a self-seeding plant and well suited to informal, or field-style gardens. It prefers full sun and well-drained soil that tends toward the drier side.

Why I Love This Plant: This plant has fuzzy gray leaves, and it’s often mistaken for lamb’s ears. But unlike Stachys byzantina the other perennial that is called lamb’s ears, this plant has bright, and I’m talking bright magenta flowers in early to mid-summer.

A Word to the Wise: If you deadhead by cutting out stems with faded flowers this plant will look better and tend to last longer in the garden. But if you want it to self-seed, leave a few stems in place or scatter some mature seedpods.

There are several cultivars with white, light pink, or double flowers. This is a very easy plant to grow from seed but it’s not always available at garden centers. So order seeds this spring and get some started!

The contrast between the silver foliage and bright pink flowers is one appealing aspect of rose campion.

People also like how this plant grows in drier areas. The garden pictured is rocky and fairly dry.

Lychnis corinaria flowers in early summer. It’s not very attractive after blooming, so don’t hesitate to clean it up in mid-summer, leaving only a few stems to spread seeds.