Plant Library

Description:

A wonderful form with true light blue flower spikes, excellent in the shade garden or containers; maintains a good form throughout the season and is excellent in a border planting

Ornamental Features

Blue Cardinal Flower features showy spikes of powder blue tubular flowers rising above the foliage from early to mid summer. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its pointy leaves remain green in color throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

Blue Cardinal Flower is an herbaceous perennial with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition.

This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It is a good choice for attracting butterflies and hummingbirds to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Blue Cardinal Flower is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• General Garden Use

Planting & Growing

Blue Cardinal Flower will grow to be about 24 inches tall at maturity extending to 3 feet tall with the flowers, with a spread of 18 inches. When grown in masses or used as a bedding plant, individual plants should be spaced approximately 16 inches apart. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 5 years. As an herbaceous perennial, this plant will usually die back to the crown each winter, and will regrow from the base each spring. Be careful not to disturb the crown in late winter when it may not be readily seen!

This plant should be grown in a location with partial shade or which is shaded from the hot afternoon sun. It prefers to grow in moist to wet soil, and will even tolerate some standing water. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This species is native to parts of North America, and parts of it are known to be toxic to humans and animals, so care should be exercised in planting it around children and pets. It can be propagated by division.