Plant Overview
The 'Sea Campion' is an ideal flower for a rockery, bank or wall, where it will display its disproportionately large, white frilly flowers, nestling on cushions of grey leaves for a long period in spring and early summer, the single, comparatively large, white flowers giving a star-studded appearance to this low-growing perennial. The tiny grey-green leaves form a dense clump that will die back in the winter months and re-appear in the spring.
A very hardy native little treasure where it is found in coastal areas, appearing on cliffs, rocky outcrops and sand dunes. An excellent plant for rockery, container or gravel garden.
This small plant displays its disproportionately large flowers for a long period in spring and early summer over cushions of grey-green foliage.
Flowers from May to July.
Height and Spread: 12cm x 30cm
Common name(s): Sea Campion; Witches Thimbles; Dead Man's Grief.
Synonym: Silene uniflora
History and Legend
In Roman mythology the Goddess Minerva turned the young boy Campion into this plant after he fell asleep instead of catching flies for her owls. The bladder represents the bag he should have filled.
Photo 1: Rod Allday / Sea Campion (Silene uniflora)
Photo 2: AfroBrazilian, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
