Botanical name: Silene latifolia
Folk names: White catchfly
Shade or part-sun
Perennial, flowers May to October

Wildlife: Moths will take nectar from its scented flowers in the evening. Food plant for campion moth caterpillars which will nestle down in the seedpod so be careful when collecting the seeds! Caterpillars are an important and helpful food source for birds and hedgehogs if they can access your garden

Decorative merit: Five-petalled white flowers, on downy stems up to 80cm high. Rosette of pointed oval leaves that are hairy and sticky to the touch. Forms a large clump in a lightly shaded border. Male and female flowers on separate plants. Faint scent of clovepink at night. Makes a lovely combination with devilsbit scabious when it flowers again in late summer

Where: Borders close to where you sit in the evening and shady corners where its flowers can light up.  Tolerates most soils including moisture-retentive.

Folklore: White campion was one of the ingredients in 16th Century Elizabethan potpourri.

Carnation family relative of ragged robin and red campion.

Donate seeds to Exeter Seed Bank