Saponaria Officinalis

I grew up on East Street on the North Side of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. During the summers when I was young, the steep hillside behind our house was covered with a thick growth of what I used to call "the soap flower." (I later learned that its official name is Saponaria Officinalis, also known as Bouncing Bet or Soapwort.) The sight was absolutely spectacular, turning the otherwise drab exterior view from kitchen window into a show piece. My mother and I used to climb the hill and gather armfuls of the plant to bring home. My mother would then pluck the blossoms, place them in warm water and use the resulting suds to wash her precious and fragile silk stockings because the lather was so gentle and mild. The hillside--and the flower show--no longer exist, having been razed and leveled to create the East Street thruway connecting downtown Pittsburgh with I-79. But I will never forget the beauty of that flower-covered hillside.