John.
With regards to Deptford Pink there are no modern records for the Colchester area listed in Terri Tarpey's and Jerry Heath's 'Wild Flowers of North-East Essex' (1990) and at that time there was only a single site in Essex, in the south of the county. In Gibson's day (The Wild Flowers of Essex, 1862) there were twenty -six sites scattered around the county. That is not to say that your plants could not be genuinely wild : gardens freee of herbicides can turn up an amazing variety of species, simply from the seed bank in the soil. I suggest that you contact the County Recorder, Ken Adams, via the Essex Botany Group website and he will be able to give you an update on recent records. Graham Smith.
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