LOBELIA CARDINALIS

You’ll find this classic American Beauties plant growing naturally in moist, swampy areas, but with a constantly moist soil it will thrive in your landscape and put on a stunning summer show. Plant it toward the back of the garden or around wetland features and in groups to put on the best show as this plant forms a dense clump of upright stems crowded with almost fleshy, medium green foliage. Buds form at the tops of these stems and give rise to a profuse amount of scarlet-red, two lipped tubular flowers in late July continuing right into September. Humming_birds find these flowers an irresistible source of nectar as do colorful butterflies like swallowtails, while spent flower heads and stems provide nesting to birds and cover for small native animals and insects.