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By mid-August, the wildflower displays can start to look a little tired and worn around the edges - until you spot a patch of these, our most spectacular wild lobelias. Cardinal Flowers are supposedly named for the scarlet vestments of the Cardinals of Rome - but  they remind me more of the Cardinals of avian persuasion. As you can see, the flower color is a striking, deep scarlet - the only other wildflower I can think of that comes close would be Bee Balm. The flower form, like other lobelias, is a lipped tube - two lips above, three larger lips below. The flower tube may be nearly an inch long, and the longest lips an additional inch. The plants are perennial, usually forming a single stout stalk. The flowers form a raceme, growing along the upper portion and reaching to the tip of the stalk. The leaves are a deep green, have a smooth and shiny surface with small teeth along the edge, and are lance-shaped - usually about 5-8 inches long. Cardinal Flower grows throughout North Carolina, usually at low elevation but may be found on lower mountain slopes if conditions are right. It prefers wet but not stagnant areas, such as shallow streambanks or low meadows, with rich soil. I've seen it advertised as an "easy to grow" wildflower, but I've tried twice to grow them, and failed utterly - it seems to be very fussy about its soil, moisture, light  and root conditions.

I am very sad to report that a large patch of this flower that used to grow right along the Parkway at milepost 378 has been eliminated - by the Park Service. Extensive repairs done to the Parkway in 2000 wiped them out.