Red Campion Seeds (Silene dioica)

Red Campion (Silene dioica) is a native perennial of hedgerows and woodland, growing 30 to 60cm tall with soft, hairy leaves and branching stems. From April right through to September it carries deep pink, five-petalled flowers, each petal split at the tip, and it is often at its best just as the bluebells finish. It is a common sight along shaded lanes and hedge banks.

The flowers are visited by bumblebees, hoverflies and butterflies by day and by moths in the evening, and the seed capsules feed small birds. It is a short-lived perennial that sets seed freely, so it moves around a site and keeps going from self-sown seedlings. Its long season makes it one of the most useful flowers for a shaded margin.

It grows on well-drained soil in partial shade and copes with the dappled light and leaf litter of a hedge bottom or wood edge better than most meadow species. It tolerates some sun if the soil does not dry out. Avoid waterlogged ground and full, baking sun. It suits hedgerows, woodland edges, shady banks, orchards and the north side of a garden.

Sow in autumn onto bare or scarified ground, surface-sown and firmed in without covering. Germination is easy and some plants flower in their first year, with the full display in year two. Cut in late autumn once seed has fallen and remove the cuttings, leaving some plants uncut in shaded areas where a mower does not reach. Combine with our 100% wildflower mixes or single species that share the same lightly shaded conditions.