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A holiday for your cardinal flower

2007 December 20

Basal leaf rosettes of Cardinal Flower must have winter sunlight. Photo by Ken Moore.

By Ken Moore
Flora Columnist

Have you checked on your Cardinal Flower lately? You are likely thinking, “Hey, this is the holiday season and Cardinal Flower, Lobelia cardinalis, blooms in the late summer. This is the season for holly and mistletoe and hoping for snow.”

But think back to the late-summer brilliant red of Cardinal Flowers and the hummingbirds so attracted to them. If you are a gardener and you’ve been challenged in keeping Cardinal Flower through the winter, now is the time to give a little holiday attention to those plants.

You need to check them now. If the base of the plant has been covered by fallen leaves, or if you are one of those “putting-the-garden-to-bed-for-the-winter” types, you may have carefully covered your plants with mulch. Pull away the mulch, and hopefully you’ll discover that the rosettes of leaves at the base of this past season’s flowering stems are still green. Make certain those shiny green leaves lying flat on the ground are exposed to sunlight all through the winter months.

Though Cardinal Flower is common throughout the state, how often have you seen it growing in the wild, and where have you observed it growing? It is almost always observed along the edge of a pond, stream or ditch. It depends on the action of flowing water to clear away the seasonal leaf litter to insure those basal rosettes are exposed to the winter sunlight. Those green leaves are soaking up the winter sun, actively storing up the necessary energy to grow tall and flower during the next summer season. The winter sunlight allows them to remain vigorous even in summer’s heavily shaded situations. Let those basal rosettes remain covered too long and you can count on losing your plants.

In cultivation, Cardinal Flower responds well to growing in a naturally moist spot or situated near a bird bath or beneath an air conditioner, where a little extra moisture is routine. It will grow well, however, in a regular garden bed, sun or shade, as long as care is taken to provide ample moisture during droughts.

I grow Cardinal Flowers in pots on the deck. Sitting in trays of water they never go dry, and I enjoy the hummingbirds visiting the red columns of flowers up really close during mid-summer through early fall.

Looking ahead to next summer, give your Cardinal Flowers a little attention this holiday season. If you don’t have any in your garden, be nice to yourself and plan to include some this coming spring.

Email Ken Moore at flora@carrborocitizen.com. Find previous Ken Moore Citizen columns at The Annotated Flora (carrborocitizen.com/flora).

Brilliant red Cardinal Flowers never fail to attract Hummingbirds.

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