Description of Lychnis flos-cuculi 'Alba' (White Ragged Robin)

Lychnis flos-cuculi 'Alba' is white ragged robin, a damp meadow plant with airy, fringed flowers. It’s a great choice for the upper edge of a bog garden where soil stays moist but not waterlogged all year.

Appearance

It forms a low rosette, then sends up slender stems with starry, deeply cut white flowers. Flowering is often late spring into early summer. Height is usually 40 to 60cm in bloom, and it can self-seed in open damp soil.

Care Guide

It prefers moisture and light. Heavy shade reduces flowering and makes stems weaker.

• Sun: Full sun to part shade.
• Soil: Moist soil with organic matter.
• Water: Keep damp through spring and early summer.
• Deadheading: Deadhead for tidiness, or leave some seed heads for self-seeding.
• Division: Split clumps in spring if they get crowded.

In a natural planting, letting it seed is often the easiest way to keep it going.

Suitability for Bog Garden

This suits bog gardens as a lighter, meadow-style plant on the upper edge. It looks best mixed through sedges, rushes, and other meadow flowers rather than planted as a formal line.

Use it near paths and viewing points, because the flower detail is best seen up close.

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