Great Blue Lobelia is actually quite different in growth. It is a tougher, heftier plant with somewhat coarse, larger leaves, and the flowers appear in the leaf axils, unlike its elegant cousin's red flowers that are in leaf-free flower spikes, held high above the plant. But the blue flowers are lovely and plentiful. Best of all, this plant is not as picky as to growing conditions. It is perfectly happy in any perennial garden, with or without shade. And it is simple to propagate. Let some of the flowerheads go to seed in the fall, and you'll have a dozen new plants coming up next spring.

Blue cardinal flower makes a great background for smaller wildflowers, since several together form a wonderful screen-like clump of towering plants with blue flowers for a long period.

Oh, and the name. The botanical species name, syphilitica, comes from the Native American belief that this plant was a cure for syphillis.