Rose campion is a short lived perennial that that reseeds generously. It likes dry, rocky soil and will tolerate our hot southern sun with just some partial shade in the afternoon. I love its magenta flowers that contrast with its soft, gray-green foliage. I situated my pass-along rose campions in partial sun, backed by a trellis and tucked behind a rock border; a perfect place to show off its foliage and blooms, or so I thought.
The plants were scrawny, rarely bloomed and would drop the few seeds they produced into the lawn rather than back into the flower bed. My wonderful plan was not developing the way I had envisioned it.
Last spring, in a fit of disgust, I dug up my sad little plants and moved them about three feet to the south, on the edge of a larger flower bed. I figured I had nothing to lose.
The rose campion, however, are thrilled with their new home. The plants are large and healthy, they are blooming with abandon, and in just one season, they have doubled their numbers.
I have no earthly idea why the first spot displeased them so much or why a shift of three feet made them so happy. But, if the rose campion are happy, so am I.
After seeing these pop up in Jenn's new yard, I knew that I had to have some. We didn't know what the name of them were, but we had both fallen in love with this little beauty. I gathered 5 little patches of them and threw them into a Ziploc bag for the trip home. I got them home, planted them in the side yard and watered them in. The next morning they had all been unearthed by an armadillo during the night and were lying, all wilted, on their sides. I planted them again, gave them another drink of water, and they took off. They turned out to be quite hardy. This spring, I had a very healthy stand of them. Thank you for giving us the name of this lovely little treat.
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