Digging deeperPlant Library

Other Names:  Cardinal Flower

Description:

This wonderful variety differs in its vigor, tremendous flower output, and leaf color; an excellent border plant for most locations; brilliant red flower spikes stand tall above stunning burgundy foliage

Ornamental Features

Queen Victoria Lobelia features showy spikes of red flowers rising above the foliage from mid summer to early fall. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its attractive pointy leaves remain burgundy in color throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

Queen Victoria Lobelia 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.

Queen Victoria Lobelia is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• General Garden Use

Planting & Growing

Queen Victoria Lobelia will grow to be about 20 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 18 inches. When grown in masses or used as a bedding plant, individual plants should be spaced approximately 15 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 is quite adaptable, prefering to grow in average to wet conditions, 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 particular variety is an interspecific hybrid, 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; however, as a cultivated variety, be aware that it may be subject to certain restrictions or prohibitions on propagation.