Lobelia cardinalis, whose common name is cardinal flower, is a plant I've lusted after for years, and the first plant I thought of for the area of our swale that stays moist all the time. Cardinal flowers can be somewhat short-lived, but have a better chance of longer-term survival and self-sowing in consistently moist, or even wet soil in full to part sun.
Native in Illinois, cardinal flowers are highly favored by hummingbirds, their primary pollinators. This year hummingbirds have seemed more scarce than usual here. Although the tiny birds aren't easy to see and even harder to photograph way back where the cardinal flowers are, if we look carefully, we see them sipping nectar from the brilliant red blooms off and on all day.
Aside from a few hostas I've transplanted upstream at the back of the swale as the shade garden has been planted (previously, the overabundant hostas had been 'place holders' in the shade garden,) the plan is to plant exclusively native plants in and around the swale. Three years ago a river birch, red-twig dogwood and a pair of winterberry hollies were planted slightly upstream. They're all thriving in the moist soil. Early this summer, heleniums were added, started from seeds from Monica's seed swap late last winter. They should love the moist soil, but might prefer more sun than they'll get here.
With cultural requirements identical to cardinal flowers, blue lobelia will also be tried in the always-moist part of the swale. It 'only' took about seven years to get the shade garden entirely planted. The swale is much smaller and should go more quickly.
Wildflower Wednesday is celebrated on the fourth Wednesday of the month. For links to more posts, please visit Gail at Clay and Limestone.