Cardinal Flower
Cardinal Flower, a hummingbird favorite, late summer with tall, vivid red flower that add bold color to the late-season garden. Native to North America, it thrives in partially-shaded areas with moist soil and will naturalize if conditions are favorable. Tolerates deer. (Lobelia cardinalis)
It is so beautiful it is over picked and now quite rare in some areas. However, if conditions are right (wet, mostly) it will grow easily, even in full sun, but is usually found as a woodland beauty along streambanks or near ponds where the soil is always moist. It is even happy growing right in the shallow water of small creeks and brooks.
Flower Color : Red
Mature Height : 30-36" tall
Tempareture : -10°C to 5°C
Bloom Time : Mid summer to fall
Light Requirements : Half Sun / Half Shade
Soil Type : Loamy Soil, Moist/Wet Soil
Advantages : Deer Resistant, Attract Butterflies, Attract Hummingbirds, Cut Flowers, Native
Growing
This wild beauty is one that must watch, and you'll learn to love it. It grows quickly and easily, but it has two very powerful enemies--people who love to pick it, destroying the display, and either too little or too much (rushing) water.
Cardinal Flower is a short lived perennial but if conditions are good it will return many years
It is not difficult to grow at all, it is simply difficult to maintain a clump of plants over the years, unless it will attentive,sun or shade, the most important item is the moisture. The roots should never really dry out. We had many growing along a small brook in the middle of a wooded garden . All went well, and the plants performed with bigger and bigger flower spikes each year, until it had a spring flood one year. The brook raged out of its banks, and the rushing water uprooted all the plants and swept them away. So that year, we had to start over with new plants. They have very shallow roots, and come out of the mud easily.
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