The Award-Winning Cardinal Flower Cultivar That Is A Magnet For Hummingbirds

There is something genuinely magical about a backyard garden that's abuzz with life. For many home gardeners, the biggest reward for all their effort is watching hummingbirds enjoy their flowers. If you want to transform your yard into a colorful sanctuary for these delightful visitors, make sure you choose the right plants to entice them. There are many flowers that'll turn your yard into a hummingbird haven, but one that's pretty much a magnet for them is the award-winning 'Queen Victoria' cardinal (Lobelia cardinalis 'Queen Victoria'). With its dramatic, gothic appearance and nectar-rich blooms, this perennial brings both brilliant color and lively pollinators to your landscape.

Hummingbirds live high-energy lives and are constantly on the hunt for accessible, rich food sources that'll keep them going. The 'Queen Victoria' cardinal is a flower that seems perfectly designed to help them out. What sets this particular cultivar apart — and what helped it win the prestigious Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit – is its breathtaking color palette. It features deep red foliage that serves as a moody backdrop for its tall spikes of fiery, scarlet-red blooms. These vibrant, tubular blooms are precisely the shape and shade that hummingbirds are naturally drawn to, and their unique beak fits perfectly inside the long flowers, making them one of the plant's main pollinators, which is just one of the benefits of attracting hummingbirds to your yard to begin with. So, planting the flower in your yard makes for a mutually beneficial relationship.

Despite its royal name and showy appearance, the 'Queen Victoria' cardinal flower is actually pretty easy to cultivate at home, as long as you meet its most important requirement: moisture. Hardy in USDA Zones 3 through 9, these stunning perennials typically reach about 3 feet tall, adding a bit of vertical interest to your garden. They love full sun to partial shade. However, if you live in a hot climate, plant them somewhere that gets some afternoon shade in order to protect their leaves and stop them from getting all dried out.

When deciding where to place 'Queen Victoria' in your yard, note that this plant has no tolerance for drought. Naturally, they thrive in consistently moist soil, making them well-suited for areas near a pond's edge. If you plant them in a more standard garden bed, you'll need to be out there watering constantly. You should also add a thick layer of mulch around its base; it helps the soil hold onto more of that much-needed moisture.

This pretty cardinal flower doesn't require much ongoing maintenance once it gets established in a suitably wet locale. Feel free to get a little more blooming life out of the plant by deadheading any spent spikes, though. Because 'Queen Victoria' is a perennial that's fairly short-lived, dividing its root clumps every 2 to 3 years in springtime can net you more plants. The 'Queen Victoria' cardinal is a smart way to draw more hummingbirds to your garden, creating a beautiful, nectar-rich haven for pollinators year after year.