Maltese cross
Silene chalcedonica · Caryophyllaceae
Dense, domed heads of pure scarlet flowers, each petal notched to form a cross, on tall, stiff stems in early summer. Grown in cottage gardens for four centuries.
- Size
- 3½ ft tall, 16 in wide
- Zones
- 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Flowers
- Mid June to mid July
- Pets
- No toxicity recorded
- Job in a bed
- Accent
A bed built around Maltese cross
The planner designed this bed around Maltese cross when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) English border in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 966 that suit those conditions, and says below why Maltese cross stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Maltese cross × 4, red
- 2 Winter heath × 6, pink
- 3 Mouse-ear coreopsis 'Nana' × 24, yellow
- 4 Stiff goldenrod × 3, yellow
- 5 Silver sage × 1, silver leaves
- 6 Gray's sedge × 3, green
- 7 Dutch iris × 10, blue
Why this plant
- The only dense clusters. The others are bells, daisies, flat plates and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
- The only red.
Why here
- Anchors a back corner. At 3½ ft it is among the tallest plants here, and the tallest close the ends of the bed, where they stand in front of nothing.
- A step in the back row. Next to Gray's sedge (2½ ft) and stiff goldenrod (4 ft): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- 4 plants in 2 places. An accent is a punctuation mark: the repeat along the bed gives it rhythm.
Why now
- In flower for five weeks. From mid June to mid July.
- Part of the bed's peak. With mouse-ear coreopsis 'Nana' and Gray's sedge in mid June: 3 kinds at once. No week has more.
Planned as an English border: 4 of the 6 groups (67%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. Heights step up from about 10 in at the front to 3 ft at the back. Mouse-ear coreopsis 'Nana' repeats along the bed to tie it together.
The planner's own design check: 11 Excellent, 6 Good. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where Maltese cross goes in a border
At 3½ ft it belongs at the back of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is moderately tall (3 to 4 ft).
Its job: accent. An upright plant used singly, like a punctuation mark, and repeated at intervals to give the bed rhythm.
One of the few true scarlets, with no trace of pink or orange. Pair it with white, yellow or blue, never with pink. It is short-lived in dry soil.
- Pure red for the early-summer border
- Cottage gardens
- Hummingbird and butterfly gardens
What to plant with Maltese cross
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Shasta daisy 'Becky': in flower together for two weeks, from early July.
- Delphinium: in flower together for four weeks, from late June.
- Daylily: in flower together for three weeks, from late June.
Questions about Maltese cross
Does Maltese cross need sun or shade?
Maltese cross grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day).
It wants soil that stays evenly moist, of average fertility, and a good soak in dry spells.
What zones does Maltese cross grow in?
USDA zones 3 to 8. It is hardy to zone 3, which means it survives winter nights down to about −30 °F (−34 °C).
Above zone 8 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does Maltese cross flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers mid June to mid July. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 3 | Late June to mid July |
|---|---|
| Zone 4 | Late June to mid July |
| Zone 5 | Mid June to mid July |
| Zone 6 | Mid June to mid July |
| Zone 7 | Early June to early July |
| Zone 8 | Early June to early July |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should Maltese cross be planted?
16 in (40 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is about its full width, so each plant keeps its own outline.
It grows 3½ ft (100 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many Maltese cross plants do I need?
At 16 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 7 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 8 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 21 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as one at a time, repeated along the bed at intervals; a slender one reads better as a clump of three.
In the bed above, the planner used four in two groups.
Is Maltese cross poisonous to dogs and cats?
No toxicity is recorded for dogs, cats, horses or people, according to NC State Extension.
"Not toxic" is not "edible": a pet that eats a lot of any plant can be sick.
Is there a native plant like Maltese cross?
Maltese cross comes from Eastern Europe to Siberia and China. These North American natives come closest to doing its job:
- Lupine: the same job in a bed, the same size and the same colour; flowers late May to early July, wants average soil.
- Cardinal flower: the same job in a bed, the same size and the same colour; flowers late July to mid September, wants wet soil.
- Blue vervain: the same job in a bed; 8 in taller, flowers mid July to early September.
Matched the way the planner's Swap button matches plants: the same job in a bed, then size, then flowering time.
Do deer eat Maltese cross?
Mostly not. NC State lists it as resistant to deer and rabbits. No plant is proof against a hungry deer in a hard winter, but this one is low on the menu.
What flowers after Maltese cross?
Maltese cross is over by mid July. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Shasta daisy 'Becky': from early July to early September, 3½ ft tall (a recorded partner).
- Bee balm: from early July to early August, 3 ft tall.
- Black-eyed Susan: from mid July to mid September, 24 in tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
What does Maltese cross look like in winter?
Maltese cross dies down, but leave the stems standing: the seed heads stand through the winter, and songbirds eat the seed. Cut them down in early spring, before the new shoots come.
Is Maltese cross good for bees and butterflies?
Maltese cross is visited by bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and songbirds.
More Silene
- Ragged robin Silene flos-cuculi
- Rose campion Silene coronaria
In these guides
- Deer-resistant perennials for full sun
- Rabbit-resistant plants
- Pet-safe plants for a sunny border
- Plants for hummingbirds
- Plants for butterflies
- Plants for bees
- Plants that feed garden birds
Zone guides: Zone 3 · Zone 4 · Zone 5 · Zone 6 · Zone 7 · Zone 8
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 3½ ft (100 cm) tall, 16 in (40 cm) wide
- Plant
- 16 in (40 cm) apart
- Height class
- Moderately tall (3 to 4 ft)
- Place in the bed
- Back
- Flowers
- Mid June to mid July; dense clusters; red
- Leaves
- Medium texture, herbaceous; green
- Shape
- Upright, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Average, evenly moist
- Water
- Moderate
- Feeding
- Light, in spring
- Family
- Caryophyllaceae
- Comes from
- Eastern Europe to Siberia and China
- Attracts
- Bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, songbirds
- Stands up to
- Deer, rabbits
Checked against NC State Extension. Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.