Flowers Of Scarlet

Stunning scarlet flowers, an invitation to butterflies and hummingbirds. Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis). Native to North America, Central America, and South America. And here in Virginia it is native to all of our counties.

Here the brilliance of the flowers attract a Pipevine Swallowtail (Papilio troilus).

These tubular flowers are the perfect design for hummingbirds, which of course are the hummingbirds’ favorite color. This, a female or juvenile Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris).

Streams, roadside ditches, moist soils are where Cardinal Flowers tend to show up. I love to see them along the road at the bottom of the mountain, blooming a few weeks before they bloom here, further up the mountain.

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Published by

Brenda Clements Jones

Brenda is a certified Virginia Master Naturalist, a Habitat Defender for Shenandoah National Park, and a devoted fan of Mother Nature. She lives in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park, and hikes up to the higher elevations of her mountain often to see what nature is up to. Her constant hiking companion is a camera that captures nature as it unfolds through the seasons. It’s her goal to share the natural world around her through her photographs.