I love this plant and let it grow with abandon in one small bed. I have found that its height varies greatly with where you plant it. Mine is 3-4 feet high in the bed that only gets afternoon/evening sun. It only grew 1 foot where it got morning/afternoon sun. The stems are fairly lax, but that's okay where I have it...it is supported by oriental poppy, asiatic lilies, tall trollius, and monkshood. When it falls down, it just sends up side shoots that bloom. For a few days, everything in that bed is in bloom at once and nothing has been beaten down by the rain, and all the tall yellows, reds, and oranges are simply stunning together, offset by all the purple pansies growing in front of them. L. chalcedonica resseds freely in my garden, so I try to deadhead some, and make sure to pull some out in the spring. It's relatively short-lived compared to my other perennials, but that's never a problem since it reseeds, and I use it as a filler plant rather than a specimen.

I love Maltese cross and have some growing in several beds that get midday sun and filtered sun at other times during the day. I have it growing near blanket flower, white double balloon flower and stokesia. It has a very long bloom period from what I've observed. I grew mine from seed via winter sowing and the plants are quite sturdy. A few stems flop but nearby plants help support the main plant. One feature I've noticed is not too many insects bother it, not even JBs. Love that bright red color too!

Here's a link to a photo I posted over on the wintersown forum. I find my maltese dies back kind of early, but that is probably because I don't water often where I have it located.

Here is a link that might be useful: photos

Thanks, everyone for the great information and thanks, Bev, for the link to more information and photos of your beautiful garden. This is a big help.

Oops, also have this picture of a maltese that fell over and started sending up shoots along the stem.

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I find it good for mid-border, but wish it was a bit shorter & fuller, so I've tried cutting it back in late spring to get shorter stalks, but the timing is tricky. Cut too early it doesn't recover. Cut too late & you cut the buds off. Cut back after blooming & you sometimes get some rebloom in the fall. Cut it all back to basal growth & the plants overwinter better for me in my wet winter climate.

I've also tried staking it after the flop, but that doesn't work well, but putting in pea sticks in early spring seems to work best & disappear once the plant grows up & around it.

Mine is in part sun & blooms in mid-June, so that might help with planning companions. This year I've let them sprawl in front of perennial sunflowers behind Crocosmia, which worked pretty well for a filled in look with some blooms up & others down a bit lower.