Great Blue Lobelia
SKU: AM014077
Shipping:
Shipping begins the week of April 14th, 2025
Overview
Great Blue Lobelia (also called Blue Cardinal Flower) is a tough, hardy perennial with large leaves and gorgeous, light blue blooms. An easy to grow native that will thrive in a partly sunny, moist spot in your garden, this Lobelia will spread and multiply when given the chance. Blooms appear late in the season and provide important nectar to bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. Deer and rabbit resistant. (Lobelia siphilitica)
key features
Botanical Name
Lobelia siphilitica Great Blue
Advantages
Native, Bee Friendly, Attracts Butterflies, Attracts Hummingbirds, Attracts Birds, Deer Resistant, Rabbit Resistant, Easy To Grow, Naturalizes, Cut Flowers
Growing Zones
Zone 4, Zone 5, Zone 6, Zone 7, Zone 8, Zone 9
Light Requirements
Full Sun, Half Sun / Half Shade, Full Shade
Soil Moisture
Average, Moist / Wet
Mature Height
24-36" tall.
Mature Spread
10-18" wide.
Bloom Time
Mid to late summer
SKU
AM016140
Description
Blue Cardinal Flower is actually quite different in growth from its wildflower counterpart. It is a tougher, heftier plant with somewhat coarse, larger leaves, and the flowers appear in the leaf axils, unlike its elegant cousins 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 half sun to part shade. And it is simple to propagate. Let some of the flower heads 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.
