• Close-up of vibrant pink Red Campion flowers by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden, with green stems and leaves in a field against a cloudy sky. The focused blooms and blurred background make them ideal for wildlife-friendly gardens.
  • A close-up of two vibrant Red Campion flowers from Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden, each with five pink petals, blooming among green leaves. The blurred background highlights their beauty—ideal for a wildlife-friendly garden.
  • Close-up of Red Campion by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden—vibrant pink wildflowers with green stems and leaves, set against a soft-focus outdoor background; ideal inspiration for a wildlife-friendly garden.
  • Close-up of vibrant pink Red Campion by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden, featuring delicate petals against lush green foliage and a clear blue sky—an ideal choice for wildlife-friendly gardens.
  • Five bright pink Red Campion blooms by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden, with hairy stems and leaves, grow before a tree trunk among green foliage and dappled sunlight in a wildlife-friendly garden.
  • A close-up of a vibrant Red Campion wildflower by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden, showing its five pink petals against blurred green trees and blue sky. Perfect for adding delicate beauty and wildlife appeal to your garden.
  • Bright pink Red Campion by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden shows five-petaled blooms among green leaves and stems, supported by netting in a sunlit, wildlife-friendly garden with blurred background foliage and structures.
  • Red Campion by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden features bright pink blooms and green leaves, ideal for wildlife-friendly gardens. A wooden fence, trees, and distant building complete the sunny scene.
  • A close-up of Red Campion by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden shows pink native wildflowers with green leaves against a blurred background featuring a white chair with yellow floral designs—ideal for a wildlife-friendly garden.
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Red Campion Seeds

Resilient native wildflower featuring branching stems loaded with bright rose-pink flowers that glow against soft, hairy foliage. A quintessential sign of the English spring, perfect for creating a naturalised, wildlife-friendly drift in wilder garden corners.

Red Campion is a resilient native wildflower, often seen in the British countryside tumbling out of hedgerows alongside Bluebells and Stitchwort. It is a Short-Lived Perennial that grows back from rootstock for a few years but relies on self-seeding to maintain a permanent colony.

The plant produces branching stems loaded with bright, rose-pink (not actually red) flowers that glow against soft, hairy foliage. It is considered a quintessential sign of late spring and creates a relaxed, wild feel in gardens. It is a "magnet" for long-tongued bumblebees and hoverflies. Once established, the plant will gently self-seed to create a natural drift of pink that returns annually.


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🌿 Understanding the Plant

Silene dioica is a Very Hardy Perennial (H7). It is a robust UK native that can withstand temperatures below -20°C. While individual plants are relatively short-lived, they create a permanent presence in the garden by self-seeding generously into available gaps.

The Dioecious Secret: Red Campion is "dioecious," meaning individual plants are either male or female. Male flowers feature yellow stamens, while females have white styles and produce the seed capsules. Your packet contains a mix of both to ensure your colony can successfully reproduce and naturalise.

Wildlife Champion: A core member of the RHS Plants for Pollinators list, its nectar-rich blooms are a vital early-season food source for long-tongued bumblebees, butterflies, and hoverflies.

🌱 Growing Guide

Red Campion is incredibly easy to establish and is the perfect solution for "tricky" garden spots where other plants might struggle.

How to Sow:
Sow directly outdoors in Autumn (September-October) for flowers the following spring, or in March to May. Scatter seeds thinly onto bare, raked soil. The seeds require light to germinate, so just press them firmly into the surface—do not bury them deep. Germination typically takes 14-21 days.

Where to Plant:
It is highly adaptable, thriving in semi-shade or full sun. It is one of the few flowers that can handle heavy clay and competition from established grass, making it ideal for woodland edges, hedge lines, or wilder corners of the garden.

Ongoing Care:
Extremely low maintenance. Once established, it requires no extra watering or feeding. To encourage a longer flowering period, you can deadhead the first flush, but ensure you leave the final flowers to set seed if you want the drift to expand naturally next year.

📋 Plant Specifications
Botanical Name Silene dioica
Common Name Red Campion / Adder’s Flower
Plant Type Native Perennial
Hardiness H7 (Extremely Hardy)
Light Requirements Semi-Shade / Sun ⛅
Height 60cm - 90cm
Spread 30cm
Flowering Period May to July
Seeds per Packet Approximately 200 seeds
🤝 Beautiful Garden Combinations

Red Campion is the ultimate "weaver," filling gaps in wilder areas or woodland-style borders:

  • 🦊 Foxglove 'Excelsior Mix': The Woodland Edge. Planting these native superstars together creates a tiered canopy of early summer colour. The rose-pink campion fills the ground layer beneath the tall, statuesque foxglove spires.
  • 🌙 Honesty (Lunaria annua): The Spring Relay. Honesty begins to flower just before the Campion, and their overlapping purple and pink tones create a lush, cottage garden glow that is highly attractive to bees.
📅 Sowing & Flowering Calendar

Sow in autumn or spring for a natural drift of pink from late spring through early summer.

Month J F M A M J J A S O N D
Sow Outdoors ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
Flowering ✓ ✓ ✓

🏆 RHS Plants for Pollinators

Red Campion is listed on the RHS Plants for Pollinators list. Its bright, nectar-rich flowers are a vital resource for bumblebees and hoverflies during the peak of the English spring and early summer gap.

📖 Want more detailed growing advice?
View our Complete Growing Guide for Perennials →

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    Close-up of vibrant pink Red Campion flowers by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden, with green stems and leaves in a field against a cloudy sky. The focused blooms and blurred background make them ideal for wildlife-friendly gardens.
    A close-up of two vibrant Red Campion flowers from Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden, each with five pink petals, blooming among green leaves. The blurred background highlights their beauty—ideal for a wildlife-friendly garden.
    Close-up of Red Campion by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden—vibrant pink wildflowers with green stems and leaves, set against a soft-focus outdoor background; ideal inspiration for a wildlife-friendly garden.
    Close-up of vibrant pink Red Campion by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden, featuring delicate petals against lush green foliage and a clear blue sky—an ideal choice for wildlife-friendly gardens.
    Five bright pink Red Campion blooms by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden, with hairy stems and leaves, grow before a tree trunk among green foliage and dappled sunlight in a wildlife-friendly garden.
    A close-up of a vibrant Red Campion wildflower by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden, showing its five pink petals against blurred green trees and blue sky. Perfect for adding delicate beauty and wildlife appeal to your garden.
    Bright pink Red Campion by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden shows five-petaled blooms among green leaves and stems, supported by netting in a sunlit, wildlife-friendly garden with blurred background foliage and structures.
    Red Campion by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden features bright pink blooms and green leaves, ideal for wildlife-friendly gardens. A wooden fence, trees, and distant building complete the sunny scene.
    A close-up of Red Campion by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden shows pink native wildflowers with green leaves against a blurred background featuring a white chair with yellow floral designs—ideal for a wildlife-friendly garden.