Oh What Color!

August 29, 2025

What joy to have these flowers blooming right now. Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis), a member of the bellflower family (Campanulaceae). Native to the southeastern part of Canada, south through the eastern and southwestern United States, on to Mexico as well as Central America, finally to northern Colombia.

Such fun to find it right now, whether going down the mountain and seeing its brilliant red flower spikes rising up from a ditch, or while out hiking and finding some blooming next to a stream, or looking out my kitchen window at one of the gardens as a Ruby-throated Hummingbird comes to this flower which seems to be designed just for hummingbirds.

Joy indeed.

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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.