Oops! I forgot to mention, the site gets full sun.

How about Monarda, 'Jacob Cline'? Another plant that I just discovered are Penstemons. I bought some last year from Bluestone Perennials and they just started to bloom this year. I bought Penstemon, 'Iron Maiden'. Very cool plant. The flowers are not red, but orange-red. The plant is around 3 ft tall. I've never grown Penstemon, and I was really impressed.

There's a beautiful red flower called Red Cardinal..sorry don't know anything more about it, except it's gorgeous..those I've seen grow about 4'..I don't know if they're bulbs or not...I do know they are perrenials,,,Toni

Lots of beautiful red lilies out there. Some hardy hibiscus too. i like grasses, so would opt for flame grass (miscanthus purpurescens).

sumatra oriental lilies

This may be a little late...but I'd also go with hardy Hibiscus. Rose Mallow is the plant that gives you the large dinner plate blooms.

Hi! I would echo the monarda suggestion. I don't think cardinal flower is a good bet, though - I've had a couple varieties of lobelia croak in full sun.

If you can handle something a bit taller, how about ironweed (vernonia)? It's not a true red.. more of a fuschia. It blooms late summer/fall (July - Sept.). It's a low-maintenance native prairie plant.

Well all of the above plants are red but none of them will bloom from June thru October. Most Perennials have only a bloom time of a few weeks. Some of the above will bloom early in the season and some later. The only thing I can think of that will bloom almost the whole summer in a really true red color and will get about 4 feet tall and is really easy care is a "Home Run" rose!!! It is one of the series of roses that are impervious to disease and is a real bloom machine and does bloom it's heart out all summer! You might want to think about it even though you weren't really thinking about a rose!!!

Here are some ideas:

Native Cardinal Flower
Royal Catchfly
Helen's Flower - 'Helena Red'
Burgandy Gallardia
Hardy Hibiscus 'Lord Baltimore'
Hollyhocks
Red Lily - 'Monte Negro'
Lobelia 'Bees-Flame'
Knautia macedonica
Carnation 'Desmond'
Monarda 'Jacob Cline'
Coreopsis 'Sweet Dreams" and 'Limerock Ruby'

Hibiscus moscheutos's bloom time is summer through fall...

I picked up some Ipomopsis Rubra -- Standing Cypress -- seeds at a perennial plant club meeting in Madison, WI. I haven't planted them, but Google tells me they are tall and red! And despite the name, they apparently grow in Wisconsin.

i'd go with a rose (probably floribunda instead of tea) - roses and clematis are suppose to work really well together (i just planted my first "pair" this spring so i can't tell you first hand yet, but they are doing well so far) - you'd get the guaranteed red, can shop around a little bit for the height you want (and exact shade of red), and constant blooms

If you go to the seed exchange, try to find some Yvonne's Salvia. It is red and about 3 feet tall, an annual, but it reseeds enough to be a perennial. Blooms from about June until frost. May even exceed 3 feet depending on your soil! Not available anywhere else but here at the seed exchange. Available for postage because the elder lady who found? or propagated it wanted it to spread everywhere. Not sure if she is still alive, she was quite old. But it is usually readily available here.

Lee