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About Cardinal Flower
Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) is a striking native perennial wildflower with vivid red tubular blooms arranged along tall upright spikes. Its flowers are among the brightest reds found in eastern North American wetlands and gardens, which makes the plant easy to recognize when it blooms in mid to late summer. The color is not subtle. It is botanical trumpet music.
The leaves are lance-shaped to oval, with toothed edges and a rich green color. The flowering stems rise above the foliage, often reaching 2 to 4 feet tall, with blossoms opening gradually along the spike. Each flower has a long tube and flaring lobes, a shape that is especially well suited to hummingbirds.
Cardinal flower is a wonderful plant for a coloring page because it has such a dramatic form: tall red flower spikes, leafy green stems, wetland surroundings, and excellent wildlife connections. It is also useful in native gardens where bright color is wanted in moist soil or along a shaded water edge.
Where Cardinal Flower Grows
Cardinal flower is native to much of eastern and central North America. It is commonly found in wet meadows, marsh edges, streambanks, seeps, swamps, wet woods, ditches, pond margins, and other moist to wet habitats. In the wild, it often grows where its roots stay consistently damp.
This plant prefers rich, moist to wet soil and usually grows best in full sun to part shade. In hotter regions, afternoon shade can help keep the plant from drying out. It does not like drought, so garden sites should stay evenly moist, especially during summer.
In native gardens, cardinal flower works beautifully in rain gardens, pond edges, streamside plantings, wet meadows, shaded borders, and hummingbird gardens. It pairs well with swamp milkweed, blue flag iris, turtlehead, great blue lobelia, boneset, sedges, ferns, jewelweed, and other moisture-loving native plants.
Pollinators It Supports
Cardinal flower is especially famous for attracting the ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris). The red color, tubular flower shape, and deep nectar source are all well matched to hummingbirds. In many eastern habitats, ruby-throated hummingbirds are the most effective pollinators because they can reach deep into the flower and brush against the pollen-bearing parts as they feed.
Other insects may also visit cardinal flower. Long-tongued butterflies such as the spicebush swallowtail (Papilio troilus) and eastern tiger swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) may nectar from the flowers when they can reach the nectar. Bumble bees, including species such as the common eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens), may visit too, though some bees may bite into the base of the flower to rob nectar without pollinating it.
Cardinal flower can also support some caterpillars and other insects. The pink-washed looper moth (Enigmogramma basigera) has been recorded feeding on cardinal flower, especially in the southern part of the plant’s range. For a coloring page, cardinal flower pairs beautifully with a ruby-throated hummingbird, spicebush swallowtail, eastern tiger swallowtail, bumble bee, or a small moth caterpillar tucked along the leaves.
Coloring Tips
Color the flowers bright scarlet, crimson, cherry red, or deep cardinal red. Add darker red near the base of each tube and lighter red or red-orange highlights along the flaring petal lobes. The flower spikes open gradually, so you can color some buds darker and the fully open flowers brighter.
The leaves are usually medium to deep green, with toothed edges and a clear central vein. Use darker green along the veins and lower leaves, with lighter green on newer growth near the flower spike. The stems can be green, reddish-green, or slightly purplish.
For the background, place cardinal flower in a wet meadow, streambank, pond edge, rain garden, or swampy woodland opening. Add water, moss, sedges, rushes, ferns, turtlehead, swamp milkweed, or blue flag iris nearby. To show wildlife value, include a ruby-throated hummingbird feeding from the red flowers, or add a spicebush swallowtail or common eastern bumble bee visiting the bloom spikes.