Its brilliant, scarlet red flowers are produced in long, erect spikes from July to September.
The flowers are 2-lipped tubular flowers, with two lobes of the upper lip and three, more prominent lobes of the lower lip, as seen in the close-up photo of the flower bellow.
Cardinal flower grows about 30-60cm (1-2'), having long leaves with a toothed margin and purplish underside.
They are not often seen in our gardens, so these pictures were taken at one of our garden centers and that's were I have all the info about them, as well.
Mature plants form clumps which can be divided and spread out, for propagation.
Hummingbirds love the nectar of this plant and they do an excellent job pollinating the flowers, in return.
Lobelia cardinalis can grow even underwater, being used as ornamental plants in aquariums.
Cardinal flowers need no maintenance but moist, reach soil and full sun or part shade in very hot areas.
Blue lobelia, is a showy plant as well, used as a colorful ground cover.
2 comments:
I bought a cardinal flower for our bog garden a few years back and it was lovely the first year but it did not come back again the next. I was disappointed. Lovely. Valerie
Lovely looking flower... am not sure if I have seen this before... :-)
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