Lychnis Coronaria

I agree there, Janey. A great contrast.

I do like the old cottage garden favourites, you just cannot beat them.....

My plants are doing well from the seed you sent me janey , yours are slightly more forward than mine ,mine are still in bud :o)

Lovely. One of my customers has the white version which is also very attractive

On googling I see there's also one with white petals and a pink centre

Lychnis occulata

http://tinyurl.com/ct2s6po

Thanks everyone, these are doing so well this year, glad to hear yours are coming on Amy, yep I have the alba too Aman, pinks are my favourite though, it's such a striking shade, going to have a peep at the occulata now.....:))

There is a very dark red one too

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5003/5351658635_e306400f7b.jpg

Like the sound of that one Aman....especially with the grey foliage!

Janey mine are in flower at last from the seed you sent me but with a difference they have pink middles and white surrond ,very pretty ....

Really Amy, I wonder how that has happened they sound to be the Occulata that Aman mentioned, that's incredible Amy!

Lovely, I still like these shocking pink ones although they don't always last long here. I have three new ones, bought as plants, in flower. I have some occulata still growing in my drive though lol. I have thought about trying Verbascum (love them), but afraid they won't like it here. I did notice you grew some verbascums in not ideal conditions Janey and wondered how they are doing in this wet? :-)

They're all fine Ba, he spring ones are still flowering and the large summer flowering ones are looking good and withstanding all this horrendous weather..:))

I will save some seed Janey , I haven't had any Lychnis seed from anybody else except you . I will check out Amans ... .. yes that is what mine are like !

Ooh good Amy.....They're great for a sunny dry garden (who has one of those)....:))

LOL Not this year :o))

One more thing Janey, it says verbascums don't like fertile ground, does this mean you can't feed them or others near? :-)

we have good soil here BG the verbascums are growing happily amongst my other perennials in a large bed , we put a layer of compost on each year from our compost boxes and that about it ... this is the first year for mine so I'm no expert ...

Janey I'm a complete idiot ! it was ( Alan ) Aman who gave us the Lychnis Occulata ,it's no wonder he named them for you , Tony dropped some plants off for him one day and he kindly gave us some in return ,I had forgotten what they were called .. funny that because if you read his comments he doesn't actually say that he has one himself does he ?

The wild Verbascum is Mullein Ba, which grows on Mediterranean hillsides in dry free draining poor soils. I think the verbascum Olympus Bombyciferum, the yellow very tall Mullein, with grey velvety leaves would like these conditions.
The Verbascum phoeniceum or purple mullein is the earlier flowering type, also from the mediterranean, these come in a colours and reach about 3ft....still liking full sun (!), mine do well in sun or shade and in damp areas too. Our soil here isn't great, but they're still okay, one thing they don't like is being moved. I can save you seeds of each type if you'd like some Ba.....

Ha ha Amy, well that's explained the mystery, no he didn't mention that. I have the alba too, plain White if you'd like some of those seeds.....

Thanks Amy and Janey:-) I went to Kew many many years ago and along one border they had V. Bombyciferum...the flowers had just about finished and I thought they looked like mad silver cacti...they were gigantic. I was thinking of maybe putting sand and grit in the planting hole, but if you have some seeds of V. phoeniceum, I would like to try some thanks Janey. I subscribe to Gardeners Illustrated magazine and Verbascums are the featured plant this month...I'm going to try V.Royal Highland, Pink Domino, Clemantine and Gainsborough. I did buy Gainsborough from the first Gardeners World Live show at the NEC and it gave the most fantastic show, like a massive candelabra, but didn't survive the winter. My soil has been much improved since then though and the weather so damp, but they're so beautiful, even if I get just one seasons flowers it will be worth it:-)

I'll save you some seeds Ba, I've quite a few pinks and purples here, is that okay?

Lovely, thanks Janey:-)