Silene regia

Royal catchfly

In Swink & Wilhelm's book, "Plants of the Chicago Region", they devised a mathematical formula that returned a 'coefficient of conservatism'. What this number symbolized (greatly simplified), was the quality of a plant from an environmental standpoint. Royal catchfly had the highest possible score available: a 10 out of 10.

This plant's qualities go beyond the environment, though. Every July it starts a two-month show of 2" scarlet flowers, each with five petals, in clusters atop long 3-4' high stalks. It's a perfect accompaniment to yellow coneflower, Big Sky™ coneflower, or with Loraine Sunshine false sunflower or prairie phlox.

It's a trouble-free plant that will grow in just about any soil, as long as the drainage is good. If you decide to fertilize, you may need to stake the flower stalks since they'll become too heavy for the plant to support on its own.

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(c) 2007 Christopher P. Lindsey