I am sure that many times we have heard someone, often a politician, use the expression “I’m going to drain the swamp” as part of their solution to a significant problem facing us. While this may be a worthwhile endeavor to pursue sometimes it is better to make the best of the situation that faces us rather than trying to make big changes in complex circumstances. I think this is the type of situation we often face as gardeners and one problem that I’ve been confronted with is having flower beds that sit in low lying areas with soil that is constantly soggy even to the point of having standing water some of the time.

Trying to fix a problem like this can be very difficult and often complicated by the fact that these areas can be adjacent to your neighbor’s property. If you try to change these situations you run the risk of disturbing drainage patterns which can result in damage to both property and to your relationship with your neighbor. I’ve found the easier solution is to find plants that can thrive in these conditions and one of these flowers is the Cardinal Flower, also known as Lobelia. Lobelia is a real problem solver and it’s any easy plant to work with.

The first thing I want to mention is that there is another flower that is also called Lobelia. Although they have the same name you can’t really mix the two plants up as Cardinal Flower grows 2 to 5 feet tall and the other Lobelia flower grows about 6 inches tall. Cardinal Flower is perfectly suited for the moist soil conditions that I’ve been confronted with. As a matter of fact it can be found growing in bogs and along the banks of ponds and streams from Montana to Florida. It starts blooming in July, which is an added benefit as many perennials are finishing up their blooming season by this time. It will send up tall flower spikes that are red or blue in color and they will bloom through the summer into the fall.

While you wait for Cardinal Flower to bloom you can enjoy the leaves which are dark green with a reddish tint to them. Cardinal Flower is a good choice for the rear of your garden border but I have found that staking the flower spikes right before they begin blooming creates the best display of their flowers otherwise the flower spikes can flop over in a strong wind or a thunderstorm. Cardinal Flower is not bothered by pests or diseases so other than the staking it is a very low maintenance plant. So if you confronted by wet soil conditions rather than attempting to “drain the swamp” why not try Cardinal Flower instead