Lobelia
Lobelia spp.
Special Features
Features vibrant flowers, often in shades of blue, red, or purple. Excellent for adding a splash of color to borders and containers, attracting hummingbirds and butterflies.
Plant Specifications
Our team will help you integrate this plant into your landscape design
Growing Lobelia on Martha's Vineyard
Lobelia cardinalis, the cardinal flower, is a native perennial that thrives in the moist, seasonally wet conditions found along the margins of Martha's Vineyard's numerous freshwater ponds and in the rain-retaining low areas of properties throughout the island. Its intensely red flower spikes in midsummer are among the most vivid colors available in the island's native plant palette, attracting ruby-throated hummingbirds with predictable consistency during their late-summer southbound migration. It tolerates the island's naturally acidic soils well and requires minimal supplemental fertilization when sited in organically rich, moisture-retentive positions.
Deer largely avoid it due to its alkaloid content, a significant practical advantage. Estate Care professionals value it as a signature native planting in pond-edge and rain garden designs, where it provides both ecological function and exceptional seasonal drama.
