Royal Catchfly is a rare Showy Plant

Royal Catchfly has showy, brilliant red flowers that attract hummingbirds and butterflies such as the Black Swallowtail. It is ideal for butterfly gardens, open woods, rocky soils, borders, and prairies. It gets its name from the sticky calyx on its leaves, which can trap or catch small insects; but It seems its main purpose is to deter ants from climbing to the flower to steal nectar. 

A rare plant native to the United States’ Midwest, it will adapt to hardiness zone 5 environments. It blooms in late August, and deadheading will extend the plant’s blooming period.

Care

Keep young royal catchfly plants moist. Stems emerge from a perennial crown that sits atop a deep taproot. As with literally all plants with a deep tap root, Silene regia is drought tolerant. If you water the plant, water it deeply to reach the crown and tap root. There may be several rosettes and shoots as the crown grows in size, but Royal Catchfly does not produce horizontal rhizomes.

Propagation

You can propagate royal catchfly by dividing the crown and transplant it in March. You will have more success by dividing mature plants which have crowns with a number of rosettes and shoots.

It is easliy propagated by seed. If you obtain seeds, do not allow them to dry out.