Sunday, 22 January 2012

Time to start sowing seeds. Today Lobelia...but a bit different.

We have all grown lobelia erinus, the blue flowering hanging basket plant but there are lots of other interesting species for the exotic garden.  I have been growing lobelia cardinalis for the last five years now and love the tall spires of blood red flowers and dark plum foliage. 



This year I am tryng the following from seed:

Lobelia excelsa
Lobelia fistulosa
Lobelia polyphylla
Lobelia valida
Lobelia x gerardii 'Vedrariensis'
Lobelia tupa

All are tiny seeds like dust and have been surfaced sown on free draining compost and left in bright light to aid germination.

The Lobelia polyphylla may need stratifying, that is a few weeks in warm conditions and a few weeks in cold conditions (-4 to plus 4) in order for them to germinate.

Anyway I'll have to wait and see.  Hopefully they will all germinate and grow into decent sized plants by the end of summer.  Hardiness is unkown to me on these but should be ok down to minus 5.  The Lobelia tupa is quite well known and hails from Chile, as do the other species that I'm trying.

I will keep this blog updated with how these get on.

Bye for now,


Yorkshire Kris
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10 comments:

  1. stephenprudence22 January 2012 at 14:06

    Try Lobelia laxiflora for the ultimate exotic look in both foliage and flower. Nice photos by the way

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    Replies
    1. Yorkshire Kris23 January 2012 at 13:35

      Cheers, I will look out for laxiflora. Just googled it and its a stunner.

      Delete
  2. Montserrat29 January 2012 at 03:46

    Hi,
    Just to say I like your blog and it seems we have many plants and interests in common. This year I sowed some tropical seeds and will I will try this year to sow the lobelia tupa too.Please excuse my english as is not my first language!

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    Replies
    1. Yorkshire Kris29 January 2012 at 04:54

      Hi Montserrat. I'm hoping that the seeds sown will turn into wonderful plants. Hope yours do too.

      Delete
  3. Keith7 October 2012 at 08:13

    How did you get on with these?

    I had seeds for L.polyphylla and got zero germination - freshness may be a factor?

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    Replies
    1. Yorkshire Kris7 October 2012 at 11:32

      Hi Keith, Had a disaster with the lobelia seeds as all the shelves tumbled over during strong winds (they were in an unheated PVC greenhouse) All the Tupa seeds germinated and produced good healthy plants. The others got lost when everything tipped up and nothing else germinated :-(

      Delete
  4. Keith7 October 2012 at 15:37

    Downer!

    Tupa is reliable (and first year blooming), but I lift a couple every winter to cover losses as with all my Lobelia.

    Did you find L.laxiflora? If not I'll be trimming my plant back this week and could post some soft stem tips for rooting if you're interested.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yorkshire Kris8 October 2012 at 14:31

      Hi Keith,

      That would be great as I have not come across laaxiflora. My email address is yorkshirekris@hotmail.co.uk

      Delete
  5. Unknown1 May 2013 at 09:09

    I think the large Lobelias are great, L. tupa is one if my favourite plants - a plant with real attitude! I found that they can be 'made' hardy by a covering of (first) a pile of dry leaves then a layer of wet leaves on top of that pile.
    I am just starting a new garden and am growing tupa, siphilitica, bridgesii, valida and cardinalis x 'Crown Royal' from seed this year. Tupa, valida and siphilitica have already germinated. The other two have only just been sown.

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  6. Unknown12 February 2019 at 13:36

    Hi I’m just about to sow Lobelia Tupa, will I need to put them into a fridge before I put them into my heated propagator? The packet says to but online it says just sow at 18-24 c
    Thanks Emma

    ReplyDelete

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