Plant Care Library

Other Names:  Cardinal Flower

Description:

This variety produces long lasting spikes of tomato red flowers and foliage that emerges dark purple, and matures to a bronzy olive green; looks wonderful in mass plantings along borders

Ornamental Features

Fried Green Tomatoes Lobelia features showy spikes of tomato-orange flowers rising above the foliage from mid summer to early fall. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its pointy leaves emerge deep purple in spring, turning olive green in color throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

Fried Green Tomatoes Lobelia is an herbaceous perennial with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition.

This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It is a good choice for attracting butterflies and hummingbirds to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Fried Green Tomatoes Lobelia is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Fried Green Tomatoes Lobelia will grow to be about 24 inches tall at maturity extending to 3 feet tall with the flowers, with a spread of 20 inches. When grown in masses or used as a bedding plant, individual plants should be spaced approximately 18 inches apart. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 5 years. As an herbaceous perennial, this plant will usually die back to the crown each winter, and will regrow from the base each spring. Be careful not to disturb the crown in late winter when it may not be readily seen!

This plant does best in full sun to partial shade. It is quite adaptable, prefering to grow in average to wet conditions, and will even tolerate some standing water. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid, and parts of it are known to be toxic to humans and animals, so care should be exercised in planting it around children and pets. It can be propagated by division; however, as a cultivated variety, be aware that it may be subject to certain restrictions or prohibitions on propagation.

Fried Green Tomatoes Lobelia is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.