One of my favorite summer wildflowers is the Cardinal flower (lobelia cardinalis). I just love the bright red flowers. They add a great splash of color in late summer and early fall.

This year, I photographed Cardinal flowers in two locations. The first was a single cardinal flower along the Little Brier Gap Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in late July. This was the only Cardinal flower I saw on my summer trip along the Blue Ridge Parkway and in the Smokies.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

A few weeks later, I found one more Cardinal flower at the Wild Gardens of Acadia in Maine’s Acadia National Park.

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

(c) 2009 Patty Hankins

I’m hoping that next summer I’ll be able to find a group of Cardinal flowers growing together. I suspect that would make a fantastic photograph.