Maltese cross, Silene chalcedonica

Maltese cross is the ideal garden escape.  The intense color gives it a dramatic effect in gardens or on roadsides and other convenient spots it immigrates to.  Once there it isn't aggressive.  This image was part of an experiment.  Those new very intense flashlights had bedun to intrigue me.  Their light is much more natural than the old incandescents were.  Could they be used as a handy way to provide supplemental light on overcast and drizzly days?  Mark this one partly true.  It worked reasonably well, but still didn't provide enough intensity to get hand-held images with enough pixels to keep things from getting grainy.  But now I noticed even more intense ones are available.  Give it another try?  Maltese cross has been recorded from the wild in AK, CT, ID, IL, IN, MA, ME, MI, MN, MT, ND, NH, NY, PA, VT, WI, AB, MB, NB, NS, ON, PE, QC, and SK.  Beal Gardens, MSU, 6/13/14.  Pink family, Caryophyllaceae.