Bloom Color

Interesting Notes

It is hard to describe the intensity of a Cardinal Flower in bloom. It is as if the flowers catch sunlight inside some sort of crystal matrix and let it bounce around for awhile until it has been stripped of all but the deepest, purest red imaginable. Then and only then is the light released to burn crimson red into our corneas. I will never forget the first time I found one in the wild, just a single plant growing in a low area behind my house. I stood there stunned for about five minutes trying to fathom how such a magical thing had come there. I know now that the seed had probably been lying in the soil, dormant for years before being kicked up into the light by some worm or squirrel ( or maybe a curious child's foot?).

Lobelias are not true perennials, because the flowering stem and its associated roots die after setting seed. They are perennial in effect only because new offsets grow from the axils of the lowermost leaves and quickly put down their own abundant white roots. It is especially important, then, that these new offsets be coddled a little in the fall. William Cullina, Growing and Propagating Wildflowers

Lore: The root was part of a Native American love potion and the powder of the entire plant may have been used as sort of a magic power to dispel storms and was used in ceremonys.

Growing and Maintenance Tips

Needs constant moisture so
mulching would be quite beneficial. Propagate by seed or cuttings. May self seed. Best used as a border, wild, hummingbird, butterfly and water gardens. Also to add color to woodland gardens.