Ha ha the funniest thing! – ‘Bella Silene dioica’…
Since 2016 I have been propagating——patiently nursing, willing on, a single ‘Deadly Nightshade’ plant, affectionately referred to as my ‘Belladonna Babe’. Two years on since germination, ‘she’ has matured into something recognisable but definitely not deadly in any shape or form, in fact ‘she’ is a deLIGHTful miracle – or a deLIGHTful accident; indeed BOTH!
A beautiful lady – or a male perhaps? Silene dioica or Red Campion. ‘Silene’ comes from ‘Silenus’ – a Greek male deity of the forest – a satyr (faun in Roman mythology) ‘dioica’ comes from another Greek word ‘dioecious’ or ‘two households’ – which means the male and female flowers of the wild Red Campion are borne on separate plants.
The ‘beautiful mix-up’ started when I bought some ‘Atropa Belladonna’ seeds from an Ebay seller in 2016 – and planted some as per the advisory note that accompanied them through my letterbox. 
I submerged a dozen teeny-weeny, darkly ‘specks’ in fresh water and placed them in my fridge——to cool and to fool them into thinking that the winter thaw had taken place. Everyday I refreshed their water and carefully placed the seeds back in the fridge in a sealed container – until finally they were ready to sow, after about two weeks…
I planted all twelve seeds together, in a pot of richest, crumbliest soil that I had scooped off the top of a molehill on one of my walks; probably how this beautiful ‘cross-fertilisation/contamination’ came round!!! Miraculously, one out of the dozen——nay ‘Baker’s dozen’ germinated, and I have nurtured the lucky ‘thirteenth fairy’ ever since. In hindsight, I have to admit there where times when I did look dubiously upon her as any mother would – who feels her babe has been switched at birth!
Doing nicely – Spring 2017.
Nonetheless I loved her, and even gave her a name ‘Jane’ and wrote about her progress here – and again here. Ah, such was my investment, devotion – expectation——belief!
With two cold snaps early on this year – I protected last season’s growth of shriveled leaves with a bell-cloche, in the hope that she would survive into Spring. Suddenly, come the warmer weather – the brownish clump burgeoned, ‘she’ enjoyed a mini heatwave in fact that she converted into a significant growth spurt! Um, I thought to myself – as her “lusty limbs” suddenly and rapidly shot-up, with pink-tipped buds by mid-April; much too early for Deadly Nightshade to bloom – and wrong colour! I’m deLIGHTed to report on May Day – that my ‘Belladonna Babe’ has matured into the most benign of plants, Bella Silene dioica – or beautiful Red Campion! 
The funny thing is I’m not the least bit disappointed because Campions are an enduring favourite of mine – even an inspiration for an earlier, coincidental blog post called, ‘Champion Wild Campion’.
Nowadays, wild Campion are still a relatively common sight in our hedgerows – through Spring and early Summer. Their bright-pink, bobbing heads reminding me of my country childhood, when I’d freely pick a posy to take home to my Mother – something one mustn’t dare do now, at least not with a clear conscience! With a verdant clump of ‘pinks’ happily bobbing in my backyard – I may just pick a posy for the table – as a nod to when life was as innocent as picking wild flowers. —— Of treasured memories of growing up through the 60s and 70s, a time I now recall and SEE as golden.
Backyard ‘Bella Silene dioica’. That promised rosy ‘Posy of Pinks’ – metaphorically picked down memory lane – to celebrate the beginning of fair May. 1-5-2018
Unfazed by my own delay – for a ‘harvest’ of “button-bright” berries, I have purchased a bona fide sproutling – that despite her diminutive size, is ‘deliciously’ recognisable as a beautiful, succulently juicy ‘Belladonna Babe’ – or Deadly Nightshade. (Latin name ‘Atropa Belladonna’ comes from ‘Atropos’ – one of the three Fates in Greek mythology, who cut the thread of life. The Romans identified her as ‘Morta’. ‘Belladonna’ means ‘beautiful lady’.)
Definitely no plain ‘Jane’. I could’t be more deLIGHTed to be a surrogate mummy to ‘my’ new healthily plump ‘Belladonna Babe’ – than if I’d raised her myself! For the grower X
The lesson learned here – for a novice nurseryman like me, is always plant seeds in a potting mixture that comes out of a BOUGHT bag – whilst leaving the tops of molehills to the Moles and to Nature! Wild Red Campion evidently fend for themselves and do prolifically – even magically flowering again in the harshest of seasons – in a quiet, secret location…
December’s bravest stars come out…
‘Red Campion’ in the pink – in the dark – in the bitter cold – Winter 2017. Truly a miracle ‘Biflora’ specimen – like ‘The Glastonbury Thorn’ Crataegus monogyna ‘Biflora’ – that blossoms twice-yearly too.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
Ever my inspiration for endeavouring to raise a ‘Deadly Nightshade’ – is this potent passage from ‘The Go-Between’ by L. P. Hartley…
“It wasn’t a plant, in my sense of the word, it was a shrub, almost a tree, and as tall as I was. It looked the picture of evil and also the picture of health, it was so glossy and strong and juicy-looking: I could almost see the sap rising to nourish it. It seemed to have found the place in all the world that suited it best.
I knew that every part of it was poisonous, I knew too that it was beautiful, for did not my mother’s botany book say so?
I stood on the threshold not daring to go in, staring at the button-bright berries and the dull, purplish, hairy bell-shaped flowers reaching out towards me. I felt that the plant could poison me, even if I didn’t touch it, and that if I didn’t eat it, it would eat me, it looked so hungry, in spite of all the nourishment it was getting.
As if I had been caught out looking at something I wasn’t meant to see I tiptoed away, wondering whether Mrs. Maudsley would think me interfering if I told her about it. But I didn’t tell her, I couldn’t bear to think of those lusty limbs withering on a rubbish heap or crackling in a fire; all that beauty destroyed. Besides I wanted to look at it again.
Atropa belladonna.”
Atropa belladonna. No mistaking she’s the real deal…
Bellissima! One single Deadly Nightshade flower – 27th August 2018.
Other posts on this most beautiful of mix-ups…
…progress update! 5th. June 2018.