I planted out wintersown rose (magenta) and white campion babies last summer and this year I have campion in bloom for the first time. Huzzah!!

The only bad thing is I must have reversed the labels because I have white where I thought I planted magenta and visa versa. But I love the silvery foliage.

Burgundy flower campion, bakemon??!! O oooo ooh, I feel a trade request coming on.

I planted out my first lychins seedlings the other day. I agree the silvery foilage is nice. I am excited to get my first bloom. Tell me how tall do they get? I planted them in quite a hurry and I am afraid I may need to move them this fall.

They are biennial for me and grow 2 1/2 feet tall on average. Can be more of less depending on the spot.

The burgundy is fun b/c although it's not a true burgundy, it's darker and richer than the rose/magenta. If I have extra seeds, I will post b/c someone was kind enough to send them to me and share.

My 2010 WS rose campion are just beginning to bloom and I'm really excited--absolutely L-O-V-E the magenta color, especially beside Penstemon 'Mystica.' Both were completely new to me last year, as was winter sowing, which chalks this up to another amazing, dumb-lucky plant combination. The Maltese cross I WS last year are blooming too, surrounded by other WS plants such as Verbascum 'Milkshake,' Rudbeckia 'Autumn Colors' and white wandflower. My not-the-brightest-bulb-in-the-chandelier neighbor across the road stopped his lawnmower this afternoon to say how great the gardens look. I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd enjoy them more if he'd mow LESS!!!

My little clump of hot pink lychnis (WSed in 2010) is about 2 feet tall and blooming! It never totally died down over the winter.

If I shear them down after they finish blooming, will that help the plants to get bushier and maybe bloom again?

PV

I think I tried shearing them once, PV, and as I recall, they didn't bloom again that year. Maybe someone else has tried and had a different experience? I do deadhead them in years when I can spare the time and that helps a lot. They are a little fussy to deadhead, though, as the new bud is right below the dead one.

This year I have a serendipitous combination of magenta lychnis with blue larkspur and some yellow Happy Returns daylilies. I am going to try to get all those going together on purpose next year. I just moved a bunch of volunteers out of the vegetable garden to start the process.

Does anyone else find they take more than two years to come to blooming size? Maybe they don't like my heavy clay.

Hepatica

Hi Karen, I got my pink-throated white seeds from you and when they bloomed I just adored them. Over the years my pink astilbe acted like a thug and crowded them out. I have not grown them in a few years. Happy you are having such a great time with yours, sounds like lots of fun!

Mary