Lobelia is a flower accustomed to a warm climate. But if the care is correct, the landing will be successful in Russia as well. Photos of flower arrangements are proof of this. Lobelia is a beautiful and delicate plant that allows you to create unusually elegant flower arrangements to decorate any garden. The article describes the rules for planting, caring for seedlings and an adult lobelia plant.
Graceful lobelia: planting and care
Lush, multi-colored patches scattered around the shady garden will please any person who loves nature. To create such magnificence, you can plant several varieties of a flower with the unusual name of lobelia. It is used to decorate garden paths, flowerpots, flower beds, pots and many other elements of landscape design.
plant card
class: annual; There are perennial species.
height: from 15 to 150 cm depending on the variety;
planting time: in March it is recommended to sow seeds for seedlings, and plant seedlings at the end of May at a temperature of at least 18-20 ° C;
flowering time: June - early September;
location: sun, partial shade;
flower size: small;
frost resistance: 0°С to -5°С.
The most popular varieties
In nature, there are lobelia with blue, white, red and even purple or purple flowers. Gardeners often grow plants such as Mrs Clibran, String of Pearls, Emperor Willie, Blue Cascade, Crystal Palace, Cambridge. Below is the TOP 5 most common varieties with a brief description.
Lobelia ampelous Sapphire
The petals of small flowers are bright blue, the bush itself reaches about 15 cm in height. In order for abundant flowering to last for a long time, closer to August, you can trim the bushes a little.
Lobelia Climbing Blue Fountain
Shoots hang about 30 cm, so the variety is great for hanging baskets and planters.
the swallow nest
Tall perennial. The inflorescence of a rich purple hue resembles a spikelet.
lobelia erinus royal palace
The bush is compact, up to 12 cm high. The diameter of small, dark crimson flowers reaches 1.2 cm.
Lobelia beautiful Russian princess
The diameter of bright pink flowers is about 4 cm. Amazingly beautiful flowers reach the peak of their magnificence only in sunny areas. Read more about other plants here.
Landing features
Planting seedlings in open ground is carried out around mid-May and later. The exact landing time depends on the region, the optimum air temperature is 18 - 20 ° C, but most importantly, you need to wait until the moment when the threat of frost has completely passed. Therefore, if it is possible to plant earlier in the south of Russia, then, for example, in the northern Urals it is worth waiting until the very end of May or the beginning of June. A refined flower does not tolerate even a small minus.
The most common way to prepare seedlings is growing from seeds at home. Sowing seedlings is recommended to be done in March. An earlier date is fraught with the fact that the sprouts will stretch and become weak due to lack of light. In order to sow the seeds fairly uniformly (which is not easy due to their tiny size), they are sometimes mixed with sand.
Advice! Try not to grow lobelia at home, especially if you have small children or pets, as it is a poisonous plant.
Ideal soil will be designed specifically for growing seedlings. You can buy such soil at any specialized store.
The sequence of actions in the preparation of seedlings
- Pour the soil into a pre-selected container, carefully tamp and water. Leave for about a day. It is necessary to monitor the condition of the soil: it should not contain large particles and lumps.
- Bend the paper into a corner and lightly pour the seeds into the soil.
- You can not cover the seeds with earth. It is enough to sprinkle them a little with water from a spray bottle, and preferably with a weak solution of potassium permanganate.
- Cover the container with glass or transparent polyethylene and place in a warm, well-lit place.
How to care for seedlings?
The first shoots will hatch in 7-10 days. When the daytime temperature outside is consistently above zero, to strengthen and harden young sprouts, you can take them out to the balcony or loggia during daylight hours. But at night, still return back to a warm place, as she is very afraid of frost.
Be careful when watering seedlings. Excessive soil moisture can lead to the formation of mold and rotting of immature sprouts. Therefore, it is better not to water directly, but by adding fresh water to the pan. If there is no pan, then use a disposable syringe or a teaspoon for direct watering. Don't let the soil dry out.
Advice! If it was not possible to avoid the formation of mold, it must be carefully removed with a small spoon, and well-ground activated carbon should be poured on top.
The grown seedlings need to dive. To do this, a small bunch of seedlings is dug out with a coffee spoon and transplanted into a separate container. Keep in mind that the seedlings grow tightly together with roots, so moisten the ground well before picking to make it easier to separate the parts from each other.
After a while, rapid growth of plants will be noticeable. When their height approaches three centimeters, it is advised to pinch a little, that is, cut off the tops so that the flowers bush better.
It is necessary to plant in open ground in May or June. If the seedlings by that time already begin to bloom a little, this will not hurt further development. Keep a distance between plants of 10 - 15 centimeters. People often ask how many pieces to plant in one hole. It is usually recommended to plant several young seedlings.
Advice! Do not plant seedlings on excessively fertile soil or in the shade. In such a plot, foliage is actively growing, but lobelia blooms rather poorly. But areas where a sufficient amount of sunlight enters are best suited.
Features of care
If you decide to grow this delicate flower, then one of the first questions will be how to care for it. The plant requires almost no complex effort and a lot of time to care for it during flowering.
For it to grow well, follow these rules:
- It is necessary to water the flowers regularly, avoiding excessive soil moisture.
- It is necessary to weed, otherwise the beautiful little bells simply will not be visible in the grown grass.
- Pruning cannot be called a mandatory procedure, but if you want to prolong its flowering as much as possible, give the bushes additional volume, then it is still worth doing. In this case, the active phase will end only in September.
- Top dressing is necessary 2-3 times per season. To properly feed, do not use organic fertilizers. It is better to choose mineral mixtures with a high content of calcium and phosphorus.
Please note that these flowers do not tolerate even slight frosts, so if in central Russia or in the south you can leave the plant in the garden until September, in the Urals, the Far East and Siberia it is better to start preparing for winter at the end of August.
Advice! Lobelia can be made to bloom all year round. To do this, you need to dig up the plants and plant them in a pot or planter. In a warm room and with regular pruning, flowering will not end even in winter.
The most popular way to propagate lobelia, especially its annual species, is to grow from seeds that you can either buy in a store or collect boxes that form after flowering has ended. can also be propagated by seeds.
There are also other ways:
- The division of the bushes. To do this, in the spring you need to divide one bush into several parts;
- Cuttings. In spring, when the first green leaves appeared, cuttings are cut from adult plants. Then you need to plant them in the ground and cover with a film to create the effect of a greenhouse. Then you just need to wait for rooting, which occurs in 3-4 weeks. Do not forget to water, periodically ventilate and fertilize once a week.
Advice! In a cold northern climate, lobelia does not tolerate winter well. Therefore, in the southern regions, it is necessary to insulate it by covering it with branches, preferably coniferous, sprinkled with sawdust. In other parts of the country, the rhizome must be dug up and stored indoors in a cool place.
Pests and diseases
There are 4 types of pests and diseases that are especially dangerous for these flowers. These include:
01. Thrips. They appear as small bright spots on the green. As a result of exposure to insects, the plant quickly dies. For prevention, seedlings that have not yet bloomed should be examined. When the first signs are found, it is worth treating with insecticides.
02. Bacterial wilt. The plant dries out after exposure to sunlight. This bacterial infection is very difficult to fight. Affected seedlings should not be dived or transplanted. It is better to remove infected areas along with part of the soil. In no case do not treat with copper sulfate - you will only aggravate the situation and, most likely, lose the entire container of seedlings.
03. Stem rot. Another common infectious disease. Some parts of the stems turn gray, mold forms under them. Infection often leads to the death of the plant. To prevent the disease, you need to monitor the nitrogen content in the soil. Low humidity is also helpful. If symptoms of the disease have already appeared, iprodione or fengisamide will help to cope with it.
04. Tospoviruses. The leaves become dark or slightly redden, sometimes whitish spots appear. The plant wilts quickly. It is rather difficult to eliminate the cause, since there are no chemical means of control, therefore, plants must be constantly examined: whether insects have appeared - carriers of the virus, and destroy them. If the leaves of the lobelia have darkened, it is better to separate the infected area from the main plant.
Use in landscape design
Due to the low height of many varieties and rich coloring, lobelia has become a popular element in private design projects. It is usually used to create flower carpets or streams. You can make an original cascading composition if you arrange it flowing from an overturned jug.
Lobelia planted in hanging pots look original in combination with other low-growing flowers that begin to bloom at about the same time as lobelia.
It can become such a companion. Bush lobelia is in perfect harmony with other flowers, plant iberis, carnation or viola. The flower looks beautiful if transplanted to a green lawn and create delightful blooming islands.
Wherever you plant this amazingly beautiful flower, no matter what composition you create, on which part of the dacha you make a flower paradise, it will delight you with abundant flowering all summer long. Judging by the reviews, her main secret is in the delightful tenderness of her petals, a subtle, almost imperceptible aroma.
Its undeniable advantages are the answer to the question why lobelia was chosen to create a flower garden. Planting and care is quite simple, and the photos should inspire all flower lovers to purchase it.
Video "Lobelia - cultivation and care"
Read about here.
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My Family Garden
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Ideal for hanging baskets and containers. A perennial plant used as an annual. A beautiful herbaceous plant with hanging shoots (up to 30 cm long), strewn with purple flowers. The leaves are small, lanceolate, green. Flowering begins in June and continues throughout the summer. If in August the plant is cut low, fed, loosened the soil and watered, a second flowering occurs, which will last until frost. Ideal for hanging planters, balcony boxes, containers.
Agricultural technology. The plant is unpretentious, reaches the greatest decorativeness in open sunny places. Prefers loamy or sandy soils. When growing seedlings, sowing is carried out in February. Seeds are slightly pressed into the soil, do not sprinkle with earth. The landing container is covered with glass and placed in a lighted warm place. At a soil temperature of +18°C shoots appear on the 7-14th day. Seedlings dive into light ground. Seedlings are planted after the end of spring frosts. For better tillering, the tops of young plants are pinched. Seeds meet the requirements of international standards and GOST RF 12260-81
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- View: bell-shaped
- Flowering period: June July August September
- Height: 8-1000cm
- Color: blue, magenta, white, red, cyan
- perennial
- sun-loving
- moisture-loving
Lush rugs scattered among the greenery are pleasing to the eye and give the garden a sophisticated charm. From the first summer days until the autumn frosts, the lobelia is completely covered with miniature flowers of delicate shades: blue, pink, sky blue, purple, purple. It is not easy to grow it in the domestic climate, it is a beautiful flower, but whimsical.
Lobelia is a perennial flower, but in the conditions of central Russia it is grown in open ground as an annual plant. It looks great as a border along a garden path, along the contour of a flower garden or pond, on an alpine hill and in flowerpots. It is also good as a groundcover in a carpet planting and as an ampelous plant in hanging baskets. Harmonious partners: petunia, balsam, carnation, verbena, rudbeckia, pelargonium, salvia and other garden flowers.
At the end of autumn, a flower can be dug up, planted in pots and stored in a greenhouse or on a balcony so that in the summer, in the second round, it can be planted in the garden. The plant develops poorly during the wintering period, but, subsequently, it will bloom more abundantly.
The lush color of the sky blue lobelia is pleasing to the eye from June to the end of autumn.
Particularly touching are blue lobelia with a white eye in the center.
Compact spherical bushes beautifully set off the garden path
Garden forms and types:
- Compact. Rounded bushes up to 20 cm in height.
- Upright growing. Columnar bushes about 30 cm high.
- Climbing. Cascading shoots 30 to 50 cm long.
Lobelia varieties:
- White. "White Riviera", "Snowball", "White Cascade", "Naughty", "White Fountain", "Nicole", "White Lady".
- Blue. "Sapphire", "Blue Crystal", "Cambridge", "Niagara", "Nostalgia", "Beads", "Blue Breeze".
- Blue. "Blue Cascade", "Emperor Vili", "Crystal Palace", "Cozy Corner".
- Pink. Rosamund, Pink Riviera, Pink Cascade, Crimson Ringing.
- Lilac. "Miss Clibran", "Lacemaker", "Margot".
- Red. "Marquise", "Red Cascade", "Red Fountain".
- Multicolor. "Pearl String", "Serpentine", "Funny Notes", "Viennese Waltz".
Small ultramarine lobelias blend harmoniously with white flowers. Flowers planted in tandem with pansies in a decorative flowerpot look spectacular
A gentle combination is formed by white and pink flowers planted next door along the border and in a decorative flowerpot.
Planted in a hanging flower basket, snow-white lobelia grows in the form of a ball resembling an air cloud
The main conditions for successful cultivation and abundant flowering of the plant:
- Loose and light, not very fertile soil (sandy, loamy soil).
- Plant in a well-lit, sunny location.
- Regular watering - the plant loves moisture.
- Dosed top dressing with mineral fertilizers.
- Pinching or cutting seedlings, pruning mature plants for better tillering.
Sowing seeds for seedlings
It is better to start sowing seeds from the end of February, or at any time during March. True, some gardeners practice sowing a flower in December-January. But if there is no possibility of additional illumination, it is advisable not to rush with sowing lobelia for seedlings: in this case, the seedlings develop slowly, and with a lack of illumination, they stretch upwards. A flower planted in March and grown only in natural light is more viable and compact, less often affected by the "black leg" disease.
Proper cultivation and care of seedlings will contribute to its abundant flowering.
Seeds are small, dusty - for planting uniformity they are often mixed with sand. Seeds are planted in purchased soil for seedlings or in a soil mixture prepared in autumn, consisting of sod garden soil, compost (humus), peat and river sand. To normalize the acidity of the soil substrate, you can add dolomite flour or lime.
You can purchase granulated seeds that are conveniently planted in peat tablets and cassettes - this way you will get rid of the laborious stage of picking.
The sequence of planting a flower for seedlings:
- The planting container is filled with a soil substrate, which is lightly tamped, watered and kept for a day. Best of all, lobelia seedlings feel in a wide and shallow tray equipped with drainage holes. A fungicide can be added to the water for the initial watering of the land for seedlings.
- The seeds are placed on a sheet of paper folded at the corner and, lightly tapping on it, they are poured onto the prepared ground, evenly distributing them.
- After sowing, the seeds are in no case sprinkled with earth, but sprayed with a very weak solution of potassium permanganate from a spray bottle.
- A bowl with seedlings is covered with glass and placed in a warm place.
Soil substrate for sowing seedlings can be prepared from a mixture of garden soil and vermiculite. Vermiculite increases the porosity and friability of the soil, normalizes its moisture content. It also protects the root system of plants from temperature changes in the environment, neutralizes soils with high acidity.
Proper seedling care
Every day, it is recommended to ventilate the seedlings: raise the glass, wipe the condensate from it and, turning it over, cover the bowl with it again. As soon as the first shoots appear, and this will happen a week and a half after planting, it is advisable to remove the glass, move the bowl with seedlings to the "greenhouse" - a transparent plastic bag, and, having tied it, put it in a well-lit place, but not under the direct rays of the sun . The bag must be removed every day, shake off the condensate from it and wrap the seedlings again.
At a temperature of 20 to 25 degrees, seedlings may appear earlier - in about a week. But so that they do not stretch out much and gradually harden, during the day it is recommended to move the trays with seedlings to a glazed balcony or loggia, where the temperature is low and there is enough light. At night, it is better to return the seedlings to the house, providing additional illumination in the evenings, as well as in cloudy and rainy periods.
Moisturizing crops is best done from below, pouring a little water into the pan, because. there is a high probability of mold formation on the surface of the earth and rotting of seedlings. But you can also water from above, very carefully: from a teaspoon or a disposable syringe. If the mold is still formed, it is carefully removed and sprinkled on the soil with a thin layer of crushed activated carbon or pre-washed and calcined sand. To prevent diseases, it is necessary to ensure that the soil is loose and moderately dry, but it is also impossible to allow it to dry out - moderate watering is recommended for lobelia.
Diving into landing in the ground
The grown seedlings dive - they are seated in small groups, grabbing several plants with the soil with a coffee spoon and moving them to a separate container. Before picking, it is recommended to moisten the soil in the tray well, so that it is more convenient to divide densely grown seedlings into heaps. When transplanting between groups of plants, an interval of about 2-3 cm is left, the soil is lightly tamped with fingers and then watered. After picking, the lobelia will begin to grow rapidly, but when the sprouts reach 3 cm, it is recommended to cut them a few mm - so they will better bush.
Lobelia diving must be done very carefully, moving small seedling bushes from the tray to separate containers
For watering lobelia seedlings, a disposable syringe or a small spoon is used so that drops of water do not fall on young leaves.
A plant is planted from temporary containers in open ground at the beginning of June, keeping a distance of 10-15 cm between the bushes. Transplantation is carried out according to the same principle as diving: in small groups, capturing the plants along with the soil with a small spatula or construction spatula. For planting, choose a sunny or penumbra plot of the garden with moist soil rich in humus. Excessively fertile land is bad for lobelia - the plant grows lush greenery, but blooms poorly.
Quite often they resort to cutting bushes to a height of 5 cm in the middle of summer, which leads to its growth and a new wave of flowering. At this stage, the plants can be fed a little about once a week with a water-soluble mineral fertilizer.
Lobelia in landscape design
When planting a flower in a flower bed or rabatka, you must first consider the color scheme of the flower arrangement. Delicate nuanced flower beds are formed from related shades: blue, blue and purple; pink, lilac and white. Contrasting combinations of colors on the flower bed look expressive: blue and yellow, blue and red, crimson and white.
Red upright lobelia looks great next to variegated yucca and orange marigold flowers.
Blue lobelia erinus forms the lower tier of the rock garden, adjacent to the emerald-purple tenacious creeping "Burgundy Glow", red pelargonium, thuja and silver wormwood
The original discount is made up of lobelia, Metallica Crisp, purple pansies and silver edelweiss
Blue flowers are successfully combined with whitish star-shaped edelweiss inflorescences.
Contrasting solution for the design of the flower bed: a straight-growing view of the red Queen Victoria lobelia paired with yellow-hot rudbeckia flowers
Red upright lobelia surrounded by a lush multi-color flower bed looks extremely original
Flowerbed scheme: 1. Stock-rose "Pleniflora": yellow, red and white. 2. Sunflower "Capenoch Star". 3. Icelandic poppy. 4. St. John's wort. 5. Lobelia cardinal. 6. Fassen's catnip. 7. Pozharsky's bell. 8. Katananhe is blue. 9. Feuerbal gravel. 10. Stonecrop "Matrona".
Scheme of a flower bed near a reservoir: 1. Bamboo-leaf. 2. Hybrids of bearded iris. 3. Lobelia. 4. Tenacious creeping. 5. Pozharsky's bell. 6. Shave hybrids. 7. Bruner large-leaved. 8. Styloid bryozoan. 9. Tenacious creeping red-leaved. 10. Arundo.
Option #2 - in hanging baskets
Ampel species are spectacular in hanging spherical baskets - they form a continuous flower cover that completely hides a wire or vine frame. The easiest option for planting lobelia in the form of a flower basket is to use coconut liners, in which holes are made and the plant is planted on the outside of the basket, after filling it with soil mixture.
The contrasting combination of blue lobelia with yellow flowers planted in a hanging flower basket creates a cheerful atmosphere on the garden terrace.
Miniature blue flowers planted in a wicker planter will brighten up the monotony of rough masonry.
Sphagnum moss is also used as an insert, which is pre-soaked, squeezed and laid out in the shape of a basket from the inside. Then soil mixed with peat and long-acting fertilizers is poured into the basket. Upright types of lobelia are planted in the upper part of the basket, ampelous varieties are planted in a circle, observing the distances between the bushes. With this type of planting, you can combine the plant with petunias, phloxes, pelargoniums, ivy.
Option # 3 - in decorative flowerpots
The flower looks amazing in decorative flowerpots, it is only important to correctly compose it with companion plants. If you use low flowers paired with lobelia, then you can diversify the composition in a round flowerpot by planting plants with different foliage textures and inflorescence sizes.
For such a landing, wide flowerpots of a significant diameter of a concise configuration or equipped with a narrowing and a pedestal are ideal. The flower arrangement will be more dynamic if you combine a compact look with upright plants.
By combining lobelia in various shades, you can give any corner of the garden a colorful entourage.
A bright flower arrangement will decorate your garden if you plant blue lobelia, white petunia, red pelargonium and ivy in a flowerpot
Small flowers of blue lobelia perfectly imitate water poured out of a clay jug - such an unusual flower bed can be created by planting a flower in a terracotta flowerpot lying on its side
Outdated children's rubber boots will come in handy as a planter for planting blue lobelia
A flowerpot in the form of a large tall vase will complement the landscape of the garden in an original way - ampelous lobelia can be planted in the bowl itself, and its compact appearance - at the foot, against the backdrop of light dumping. A spectacular touch to the design of the garden will be made by a group of flowerpots of different diameters and heights, in which you can grow a flower of contrasting shades.
Option # 4 - a flower tower of flowerpots
The plant looks advantageous in vertical container gardening, planted in a flower tower or the so-called "whatnot" of pots. To form such a composition, you can take from 3 to 5 terracotta or white flowerpots with a difference in diameter of about 7 cm. After filling the lower pot with earth, a reinforcing rod is installed, which is buried in the garden soil through a drainage hole for the stability of the flower tower.
An unusual version of vertical gardening from white flowerpots stacked on top of each other with blue lobelia and delicate alyssum
The remaining flowerpots, selected for the vertical composition, from larger to smaller, are strung on reinforcement, filled with soil substrate, tamping it down and not reaching the upper edge of the container 5-7 cm. Planting in combination with other colors is performed from bottom to top, and then abundantly watered. In this version of vertical gardening, blue lobelia goes well with red and white balsams, pink and purple petunias.