Verbascum and Rose Campion

This little rose campion is different from the ones I see in other gardens and and at garden centers. It lives in a dry, partly shady area in my sister’s garden in Bow. My sister does not remember where it came from, but bets that it was a pass along plant, probably from my other sister. This is the third year I have seen this plant, and it must be older than that. Quite perennial for a campion, and so early to bloom that it blooms alone-

Here is a photo of a “Southern Charm” mullein in a hot, dry bed in my garden. It came from the local hardware store this spring, and is planted in front of four yet to bloom “Lauren’s Purple” opium poppies from Annie’s Annuals in California. I hope the poppy seeds itself in. Note the frilly blue leaves.

I have never grown this poppy before, but I remember seeing a bed full of them in one hot spring day many years ago. They were in an herb garden in Nashville, and looked like purple silk fluttering in a breeze.