Botanical name: Centranthus ruber
Folk names: fox’s brush

Type: Perennial

Wildlife: Nectar for bees, butterflies and attracts moths including the day-flying Humming-bird Hawk-moth. Caterpillar food plant for the Angle Shades moth.

Flowers: May to July

Decorative merit: Small, deep pink flowers in dense heads on sturdy stems that can grow to 90cm. Blueish green foliage. Sturdy stems, woody at base.

Where: Sun. Well-drained neutral or alkaline soil on banks, in borders, wild patches and in containers with a gravel/shell mulch. Try as a low hedge to separate cultivated and wilder parts of the garden. May seed into old walls if lucky! Tolerates poor soil.

Folklore: Naturalised in the UK since the 1700s. Share your stories about this plant.

Donate seeds to Exeter Seed Bank