Cardinal Flower has been with us for nearly one quarter of a century. The words of John Burroughs introduced us to this native puzzle. These brilliant red flowers were hard to find in the Catskills where he lived. This is hard to understand as the plant has two different methods of creating the next generation. Following blossoms, the entire plant dies. Around the base of the dead stem up to six daughter plant begin to grow before the onset of winter. Spring snow melt reveals low rosettes of bright green plants. In this part of New York State, days of incredibly warm temperatures are frequently followed by hard freezes. Moisture filled plant cells sometimes burst killing the new growth.
The second method of reproduction involves seeds. When cutting away the dead stems recently, we discovered many fully packed seed clusters. These seeds need warmth and moisture to germinate. This usually occurs in late June. In our gardens the greatest risk to these seedlings is inadvertent removal by the mad weeder. If allowed to grow, these seedlings will enter winter with a low rosette of leaves very similar to new growth around the base of the flowering stem.
To our north in the Adirondack Mountains, Cardinal Flower grows in impressive stands alongside of the small rivers that connect lakes. Temperatures there are much colder that here so it seems that death by cold is not the problem. Our unusually warm days are the result of Alabama air that works its way here but passes east of the Adirondacks. To enjoy this plant it seems that we have two choices. We could move or we could work to rescue plants. A goal of our work with native plants is to restore naturally occurring stands. In this case that seems unlikely but we do enjoy seeing it in our gardens.
This is the same clump of plants pictured above. Everything seen here is new growth that began last fall. Last year's rotted stems are hidden among these new plants but the roots are all new. Considerable patience is needed to wiggle free individual plants. Working among the roots avoids crushing the crowns of these densely packed plants. When set free, the size of the root mass is impressively large. On occasion a transplant will die as a result of crushing damage to the crown.
The clump of plants in the first photo have enjoyed growth in that spot for several years as is shown by the number of plants. With frost just recently having left the ground, we were able to dig up the entire clump without finding ice. Working carefully but with some forceful twisting and pulling, fifteen pots became the new homes for these plants. They will remain outside until hard freezes threaten. Then the entire tray will by carried inside. We will continue this dance until late May when hard freezes are not likely. Then these treasures will be given new homes around the gardens.
Last summer one dozen plants were placed in one gallon pots. Actually it was 12 clumps of plants since it is the natural habit of Cardinal Flower to grow in dense groups. These plants had an interesting summer. Many deer call our garden home. They showed no interest in eating these plants but bent or broke several stems as they walked by. We were able to experience the flowering habit on shortened stems. Masses of red blossoms looked great but the plants looked more like carefully pruned plants that one might find is the garden of a wealthy landowner with staff than a wild native plant. We will likely go with the wild look again this year.
Carrying twelve one gallon pots into the basement to avoid frost sounds like a task more suited to a younger gardener. Becky put together this heavy cover to see if it will protect against cold. It would come as no surprise if one or two of the pots found themselves inside on really cold nights. NOAA predicts overnight lows in the teens this weekend so we will soon know just what happens here.
Click on the first sentence of this post to see Cardinal Flower in bloom.
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