Silene dioica “Red Campion”

Why we love them

In the Language of Flowers, Red Campion symbolises gentleness, perfectly capturing the reason we love their appearance. They’re elegant and understated but resilient and capable of withstanding stress and competition to naturalise in the garden.

How we use them 

Abundantly! In nature, they are seen in woodland, grassland and roadside verges always in high number and we like to mimic this in our plantings.

Habitat

Native to UK. Red Campion appears in floods of colour just after Bluebell season. It can be found abundantly, lining edges in lightly shaded woodland areas, along hedgerows, ditches, seashore and roadside verges.

Uses

There is some reference to traditional medicines using crushed Red Campion seeds to treat snakebites. 

The root of the plant contains high levels of Saponins (an organic chemical plant extract found in many products for its foaming quality) and can be boiled up and used as a mild detergent.

Historically, the flowers have been used to make wine but with such high levels and toxic nature of Saponins- we are not so sure about this one!

Folklore tells that Red Campion flowers guard bees’ honey stores, as well as protecting fairies from being discovered.