Aunt Wanda and Uncle Sam came for a visit yesterday and they brought me a big bag full of flowers from their yard.
The plant they shared is rose campion. It is also commonly called dusty miller, mullein pink, and bloody William.
I used to have some of it growing in a couple of places. I don’t recall who gave it to me, but it’s fuchsia colored blooms and soft grayish green petals was something I really enjoyed until it died out.
All the time I had it growing I mistakenly thought it was lambs ear. I learned that it wasn’t somewhere along the way but never found out its real name until yesterday.
Aunt Wanda said she didn’t know the name either. The ones she brought me came from her Aunt Mary who died well over 50 years ago. In other words descendants of a very old family plant.
Matt looked up the plant on his phone and as he read out the other common names Wanda said well she’d call it dusty miller since miller was a family name. I declared I would too.
I’m excited to have the plant back in my garden. I planted it in several places so hopefully it will take holt in one of them. Rose campion or dusty miller as we’re calling it is a biennial. If the plant is happy and spreads well you can eventually have blooms every year.
Just before Aunt Wanda and Uncle Sam left she reminded me not to thank her for the flowers or they’d die 🙂 If you’ve never heard that before it’s an old piece of folklore that is well known in the mountains of Western North Carolina.
Last night’s video: Family History and Stories of Opal Corn Myers 23.
Tipper
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You are so fortunate to receive your Dusty Miller or Rose Campion from your Aunt, I had to order my seeds for three different varieties all the way from England this past year. I planted all 3 and two survived. The botanical name is Lychnis Coronaria and the bloom color against the silvery foliage is so striking. I am a new follower of both your blog and your YouTube channel. I’m a neighbor you might say, I’m located in SE Tennessee.
Vicki-thank you for your support 🙂
In Texas Gray Mullein is a gray fuzzy broad leaf which puts up a spike lined with small yellow flowers in the second year. Dusty Miller is also a gray plant with fancy almost lace shaped leaves. I’ve heard it might havd small yellow flowers but I’ve never seen the plant flowering. I hadn’t heard of Rose Campion but it is lovely and looks like it might be a happy camper here in Texas.
Remember when you send me those 21 greasy beans to try I made it a point not to thank you? That tells you which side of the issue I adhere to.
It’s Dusty Miller here in WV but I have not seen it bloom. I’ve been told by my grandma who’d be well over 100 years by now not to thank a person for a plant as well lest it croak. I got a candy corn from a neighbor and I said thanks and it ain’t looking good… lol since you got me on a nasturtium kick-I fell for those starry leaves and gorgeous blooms and they’re bright red this year. Last year a water line had to be replaced and guess where had to be messed with…but this year they are lovely…. An old family plant is really something to get excited about! Have a blessed day beautiful people!!!!
My comment of Amen was meant to be a reply to Larry Sorrells.
Tipper, with your green thumb, I am sure they will be growing everywhere you planted them and y’all will think of Aunt Wanda and Uncle Sam for years to come. I’ve also heard that saying too.
Such a lovely but delicate looking little flower Tipper made more special to have the family story behind it. May it love its new ‘home’ and thrive for you. I grew up hearing a plant would die if one thanked the ‘giver.’
How wonderful to have a beautiful piece of family history growing in your garden. Always enjoy hearing the bits of folklore too.
Pretty flowers! I hope they take holt for you and come back to bloom each year. I’ve heard that saying not to say thank you when someone gives you a plant or it will die, and I’ve said it many a times too. I have sometimes forgot and said thank you when I’ve been given a plant. I don’t ever recall any plants dying after saying thank you, unless of course I neglected to water it properly.
Plants with a story are best. I have a somewhat different version of that. For a few wild plants I can remember where and when I first saw it. One such plant is striped maple which I first encountered along the Clinch River just downstream from Norris Dam. Another is yellow star grass which my Grandma showed us in the woods behind the barn. I think yard plants with a family story are even better. You have made me remember storied plants in the yard where I grew up; hemlock, weeping willow, Scotch pine, balm of Gilead; each with their own unique story of where, when and how. I expect I am the only one who knows those stories.
Silene coronaria of the caryophyllacae (carnation) family….or rose campion. Our nursery brings in other plants of the carnation family. Dusty Miller to us northerners is the Jacobaea maritima. I would love to know what y’all call that?
When our son in love started the nursery 2 years ago I thought it was the most difficult thing to put these names in the system as I had no idea what any of these meant. With the help of Google, it’s become much easier. Some companies send the invoice with botanical names and others with the common names. I have learned so much more than I thought possible since he opened it. The varieties are endless and the beauty of God’s creation is beyond imagination.
Your dusty miller is beautiful as is all the things you share! Thank you!
Debbie-I’m not familiar with that plant but hopefully someone who is will share their common name 🙂
Debbie, I’m a southern but the plant I’ve always known as Dusty Miller is the same as you.
A bag of flowers from a yard sounds great! It has been ages since I’ve heard dusty Miller and makes me want to ask around for some. Norman ,you are in our prayers. Gods Peace to you.
My grandmother had the same flower here in northeast Alabama. I was able to get it started at my house too. We have the same folklore of not thanking someone for a plant.
Tipper, I really love Rose Campions and didn’t know any of their other names until you wrote this. I like “collecting” different names that people call the same flowers and trees. I wonder if they’re difficult to grow from seed? I would love to get some started here. They would be so pretty in the bed with my Whirling Butterflies or Gaura, also known as Beeblossom, and my different varieties of Pinks or Disnthus. You’ve inspired me to try and grow some!
Melanie, I just love the whispiness of guara, so perdy!
Randy, my husband’s grandmother dearly loved African Violets and had them throughout her apartment. I will forever think of her when I see her or hear of those flowers. I have an American Beauty Bush in my yard, too, but I bought it 2 years ago at a little farmer’s market in Brasstown when we took a day trip there.
Your Aunt was right! Don’t thank someone for giving you a plant or it will die. I’ve heard that my whole life.
I am from FL always called it Dusty Miller.
These are the types of things we need to get back to. Family and friends meeting for meals, iced tea on the porch, music, and just to have visitation and face to face conversation. Also include neighbors in the group,
My grandmother and mother from Tn always said not to thank anyone for plants or the plants would die. It was common for them to share plants with others. If a visitor commented on a plant they often went home with a cutting or plant with roots. That is not so common now days that I experience. I’ve lost a lot of plants I used to have that were theirs by moving. This post has brought back many memories. Thanks.
Amen, Amen, Amen.
Praying for Norman, as well.
I never heard that about thanking someone for a plant. I just bought 3 azaleas this year and I can’t wait to see them show off each spring and summer.
My Cherokee Purple plants are awful this year. They turned a brownish color and all leggy. We are hoping to get a greenhouse this fall and that will help tremendously.
Happy Father’s Day to Matt.
God bless y’all!
Those are going to be beautiful scattered throughout your yard. I’ve never heard of those before. but you are very fortunate to have had your Aunt Wanda share those lovely heirlooms with you.
good morning Tipper, I recently suffered atrial fibrillation, and overnight the doctor has, put me on a blood thinner called eloquis, it is to keep blood clots from moving to my brain and causing a stroke during atrial fibrillation, I will have to wear an event monitor for one month, I really dread that, please pray for me thank you and God bless you,
Norman, I’m so sorry. I will pray for you.
I’ll be praying too. May God heal you and keep you in his stead. We all have a need for prayer these days. For health and especially peace in our wonderful country. Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there. Have a wonderful time Miss Tipper with all the flowers. You have a green thumb and what a blessing for you. Love to Miss Louzine.
I am sorry for your health and heart problems. My husband suffers from congestive heart failure. He says the only way he can deal with his health problems is with a positive attitude. He jokes with the Dr and nurses all the time. In 2010 they told him he had 5 years to live, what do they know! We’re rooting for you Norman!
Andrea, unless something found this week turns out to be serious, I don’t have any serious problems like your husband or Norman. I do have bad arthritis and now depression and anxiety after my wife of 50 years passed away 4 years ago, when you include the time we dated/went together. I have always like to joke and tease, but never out of meanness and still do it but not as much. This week the nurse practitioner I saw told another nurse he is a nut. I was just being truthful with her when she asked me if I had any heart or breathing problems, I told only when I saw a pretty woman. I will pray for both of them. I will pray for your husband and Norman.
Sorry to hear this. Sending prayers for comfort and healing for you and guidance for your doctors.
Norman – with the Eloquis and your good doctor you will be fine. I take it, too. I never had to wear the heart monitor but my husband did. He figured out a way to hang it on the towel rack without taking it off when he took a shower. We all have to get used to things, don’t we? And it’s only for a month! I think once you get used to it you’ll be calmer about it. It’s what we don’t know that we dread. God bless you!
Norman, prayers are being sent your way. Take care of yourself.
Norman, I will be praying for you. AFib and electrical issues run in my momma’s side of the family. They have passed to me, my children, and now our grandson.
Wearing the monitor can be bothersome, itchy, and we live in a place that it’s hard to get a signal. My cardiologist did tell me they now have a little monitor they can place just under the skin and can be worn for a year. They have good ways of caring for this now.
We will be lifting you up in prayer as it is nerve wracking until they get things figured out. God’s many blessings to you.
It is known is North Georgia also. My mama always said don’t thank anyone for a plant. I say that and now my daughter does.
Good luck with it. I have found rose campion hard to transplant with success. But once you get a few bigger ones growing, you will find babies springing up all around. That hot pink flower and the gray green leaves are such a beautiful combination.
Tipper, meanwhile father-in-law from West Virginia also says to never say thank you when given the gift of live plants. I had never heard that before him! What beautiful flowers!!
Tipper, I am happy for you. All of the talk about flowers and the different names are “Greek” to me, I only know the names of a few. It does make me think of my Mother, today would be her 99th birthday if she was still living. Her yard full of flowers and house full of African Violets were one of joys of her life. She and her “flower” friends would always be looking at each others flowers and would be exchanging “settings” of flowers when they would visit one another. I have a bush that came up as a volunteer at the edge of my yard a few years ago that she would love. I was told it was called an American Beauty Bush.