Plant portrait - Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

[@BeverlyBlack]

Very informative and I enjoyed this video.

[@TinthiaClemant]

Hi, the inflorescence is not the stalk where the flowers bloom but the actual arrangement of the flowers along the stalk. Thank you.

[@--Paws--]

These can be cultured to be grown as freshwater aquarium plants. Underwater they will not flower of course, however, the parts of the plant that reach the water's surface can flower. The _submersed_ leaves, when they grow underwater, are round in shape.

[@katiecannon8186]

Very nice video. Thank you for doing this.

[@blackturtleshow]

Very nice! I photographed this plant in Surprise Canyon in the Panamint Range, Inyo County, California, a few years ago. Neat flower!

[@crasherbta2624]

Great video! Very informative!

[@michaelcookeiii4552]

Thank you very good

[@adiposerex5150]

I grow these in Chicago with blue lobelia. Bee and butterfly favorites. Quite a large range - love natives. Natives for wet, medium and dry soils.

[@vistaprime]

every time there's a heavy rain my cardinals stems break off and I lose a huge bushel of my cardinal flower and have to buy new ones and plant them. Why is it no video on the care of these flowers mention how delicate the stems are to breakage. Even watering them has sometime resulted in the stems breaking completely off at the base. How do you avoid this and what do you do once the stems have broken off? Can I put the broken stems into water will the grow roots for replanting?

[@IdentifyThatPlant]

I'm not going to be much help to you with this. I've never had the stems fall over, much less break off, even in very heavy rainstorms. And since this is a perennial, the plant automatically grows a new flower spike each year from the basal rosette of leaves. I'm surprised to read that you are purchasing new ones when the old plants should sprout new flowering stems the next year.

[@vistaprime]

if I didn't buy new ones I have a summer with very few cardinal flowers as they break even from touching them sometimes. Some have even broken in the nursery from me just looking at them and selecting which pot I want to purchase. They are the most delicate flower stems I have ever seen.

[@miamianz]

@@vistaprime might want to keep them potted then in a large planter and against a wall where the wind nor the rain will damage them probably a south wall or the side of your house that doesnt get the wind or the rain from what ever direction your at.

[@paulortiz5047]

I would plant them with many other plants of similar height, some may be a little bit shorter , and some a little bit taller, so they lend support to each other so then they don't get destroyed by inclement weather or wind. There are wire panels that are like a grid so that flowers like this can grow up through the holes in the and be supported. The panels that I'm thinking of might be 1 by 2 feet with 3/4 of an inch squares that then sit on some wire legs that are stuck into the . When the flowers and plants grow you really don't see the metal supports and the grids that are holding these plants up. Of course these metal supports and grids are painted green so that helps so they aren't so evident while looking at your Garden. Think peony or tomato hoops and these metal grids will be in the same section in your garden supply store. For some of my taller Flowers I have grids on metal stakes at 3 levels so that as they grow to their full height the flowers don't snap off either once they get past the first panel or they don't break off before they get to the final panel. But are supported during their growth to their final height. Again, think of tomato cages but on a smaller scale and for lobelia and similar flowers rather than tomato bushes or Vines. I hope that helps.

[@paulortiz5047]

You can also make some support panels with just trimmings from the tree, branches or twigs, and some jute twine. So then with enough Twigs you can go back-and-forth in a crisscross Manor to make a good pattern that will hold up all of these top heavy, but wispy flowers.

[@tydang9330]

They sell these at PetSmart for submerged aquarium tanks