Black Truffle Cardinal Flower

This easy-care perennial is a "Power Player" in your moist soil landscape. It's one of the most colorful cultivars of our native wildflowers!

Starting in early summer, Black Truffle Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis 'Black Truffle') features tall spires of scarlet red, trumpet-shaped blooms. The showy display lasts for months, all the way through to the first frost.

Best of all? This beautiful perennial plant grows beautifully in clay soils that stay wet. Add to those low-lying areas of your yard, or at the water's edge.

More prosaically, this is a safe choice for use near septic tank drain fields. Might as well turn that area into a garden asset, right?

In the wild, Cardinal Plants grow in ravines, swamps and low-lying pastures. They decorate stream banks and entice local butterflies and hummingbirds with their tubular-shaped, bright red flowers.

Hummingbirds love the color red, and this plant sends a siren's call to them. If you love birds, you'll want to use this variety in your garden design.

Count on the dramatic black foliage to add deep, dark visual interest! Use several to amplify the effect!

How many hummingbirds will you feed this year?

Order these gorgeous Lobelias from Nature Hills. You'll love the positive impact that Black Truffle Cardinal Flower has on your garden design.

How to Use Black Truffle Cardinal Flower in the Landscape

No matter if you have a large pond on your property, or just a spot that stays wet near the gutter downspout, Black Truffle easily creates interest.

The brilliant red flowers and lushly dark foliage adds dimension and texture to a water feature. Plant them at the edge of a stream where you'll enjoy the reflected blooms in the water.

Create a useful Rain Garden to help filter runoff from roofs and streets. People are looking to use their landscape in a way to solve ecological challenges. Add color to soil retention and shoreline reclamation projects.

These can also be grown in a perennial border with adequate supplemental water. Partner with Henry's Garnet or Scentlandia Sweetspire, and pump up the impact with a Choco Latte Hardy Hibiscus.

They can be very effective in long, narrow drifts behind lighter colored wetland plants like Evergold Sedge. Try them in front of taller Swamp Milkweed.

Use several to make a showy display. Space them 12 inches apart, measuring from the center of one to the center of the next.

You'll feel so good about your choice as you watch butterflies and hummingbirds enjoy the nectar. Tuck them into "out-of-the-way" spots, and add a comfy chair or hammock. Bring your camera and track how many flying visitors you get!

#ProPlantTips for Care

Black Truffle Cardinal Flower grows in both full sun or partial shade. It will need at least four hours of sunlight a day.

This plant requires a high amount of moisture for best performance. Add a three-inch layer of mulch over the top of the root zones in average garden soil. Give it supplemental water in times of drought.

We recommend that you allow the dried foliage to stand over winter for protection. Wait until early spring to do light cleanup and trimming of spent leaves.

You'll love the majesty of these grand, upright perennials. Use them with pride in your landscape this season. Order Black Truffle Cardinal Flower today!