Perennial lobelia is not too demanding to care for. It is suitable for growing, both at home and in the garden, at their summer cottage, on an open balcony. These are small bushes, therefore, plants planted close to each other create a very beautiful carpet. In this article we will talk about the features of growing lobelia from seeds and the rules for caring for the plant.
Lobelia flower growers grow in pots, containers, hanging planters and outdoors. In addition to blue and blue lobelia, which are the most common, today there are numerous varieties with raspberry, pink, white and red flowers.
Lobelia: types and varieties
Flower growers love Lobelia for its lush flowering, which begins in May and ends shortly before the onset of the first frost. The best varieties include:
- "White Lady", "White Palace" - with white flowers.
- Crystal Palace - withpurple inflorescences.
- "Sapphire", "Cambridge Blue" - plants with blue and blue shades of flowers.
- Lobelia cardinalis, fiery lobelia - red, raspberry and burgundy flowers.
Ampel Lobelia
Varieties of ampelous lobelia are of great interest to flower growers. Growing from seeds of these plants is not difficult at all. These flowers look like huge balls in flowerpots. In addition, they are planted in pots, and used as a ground cover. As a rule, ampelous lobelia varieties are hybrids. On the packages they are marked with the symbol F1. The most requested of them are:
"Sapphire". The plant forms a luxurious bush, with long (up to 35 cm), hanging shoots. Small blue flowers have white patches on the petals
"Blue Fountain". A compact bush is formed from 6-8 shoots. The length of the stems does not exceed 30 cm. The flowers are blue shades with a white spot in the center
"Red Cascade". A well-developed bush, with strong shoots. Their length sometimes exceeds 35 cm. The plant blooms profusely. Despite the fact that the name of the variety contains the word "red", its flowers are more of a dark pink or close to raspberry tones
Regatta. Pretty popular variety. The plant forms a lush beautiful bush. The flowers have different colors, often pink and lilac tones
Lobelia: growing from seeds, photo. When to plant?
The plant blooms 60-75 days (depending on the growing region) after sowing. The soil for planting the seeds of this plant warms up tomiddle of May. Such a late planting forces gardeners to lose most of the warm season and flowering in this case begins only by the end of summer. For your first experience of growing lobelia from seeds to be successful, you need to know when to plant them in the soil.
Seeds are planted in the third decade of February or early March in containers on the windows of the apartment or in heated greenhouses.
Soil and containers for lobelia
If you plan to grow lobelia from seeds, you need to take care of the containers for planting and the soil in advance. The soil should be loose, airy, neutral in pH. As a rule, novice flower growers purchase special soil for seedlings in specialized stores, although you can prepare it yourself. To do this, you will need: humus, peat, turf in two parts and one part of coarse river sand.
In addition, a little dolomite flour is added to the soil to reduce acidity. Lobelia also develops well on a soil mixture prepared in the following way: you need to mix vermiculite, river sand, humus or earth from the garden.
It is very popular today to use peat tablets when growing lobelia from seeds. They save flower growers from having to search for containers for seeds, picking seedlings. In addition, young plants can be planted in the ground without removing them from the substrate.
But most often, plastic or wooden boxes are used to grow lobelia from seeds. Food jars can also be used. Any containers must be thoroughly washed with soap and water. It is convenient to sow seeds in plastic cassettes - in this case, there is also no need to pick small sprouts. Yogurt cups are also suitable, for example.
Any soil - brought from a summer residence or purchased in a store, must be disinfected before use. You can steam it, bake it in the oven, spill it with a weak fungicide solution or boiling water.
Sowing seeds and growing seedlings of lobelia
Since lobelia grows and develops rather slowly, gardeners start growing seedlings at a time when there is still snow on the street in order to get flowering bushes in early summer. Lobelia begins to bloom no earlier than 8 weeks after sowing the seeds. The sowing period for seeds varies from mid-February to April (depending on the region). Some flower growers sow lobelia in January to get beautiful flowering bushes at the very beginning of summer. In this case, you can arrange borders along the paths in the garden quite early.
The difficulty in growing lobelia from seeds for seedlings is that due to the early sowing of the crop, it lacks a short daylight hours. Therefore, it is necessary to highlight the seedlings with the help of fitolamps and lamps. Some gardeners believe that the seeds of lobelia, which are sown in March, sprout faster and very soon catch up with those seedlings that were sown in February. If you wish, you can check if this is true.
Growinglobelia from seeds at home within the specified time frame allows you to use the first sunny spring days so that the sprouts do not stretch too high from lack of light, but grow strong and strong. This greatly facilitates picking, as well as transplanting plants into the ground. It is important not to plant too thickly, as the plants will develop poorly, their stems will not be viable.
Often sowing seeds depends on the package in which the manufacturer produces them. Most often, lobelia seeds are produced in paper bags. In this case, sowing is carried out in the classic and simplest way - just into the ground. For convenience, the seeds are mixed with sand and, having poured them on a sheet of paper, gently sprinkle them on the surface of the soil.
Sometimes the seeds are produced in paper bags, the inside of which is covered with polyethylene. In this case, some difficulties may arise: the seeds stick to the walls of the bag, become electrified. As a result, it can be very difficult to pour them out, given that they are very small. Take them out of the bag using a paper strip, and put them on a paper sheet.
You can start growing lobelia from seeds from the end of February. It is convenient to sow them in small groups - in this case, the seedlings will be easier to plant. Seeds should not be sprinkled with earth. Lobelia actively rises in the sun, at a temperature of + 20-22 ° C. The sown seeds are watered with a pale pink solution of potassium permanganate. The top of the box is covered with glass. It is necessary to ventilate the seedlings every day, remove the accumulated condensate fromglass.
The first shoots of lobelia appear after about seven days, after which the glass can be removed and the container with seedlings covered with plastic wrap. It should be removed and turned over daily. After the appearance of the first sprouts, the temperature can be lowered to +15 °C. During the day, it is advisable to take the flowers to the balcony, but at night they should definitely be brought into the heat.
You should not abruptly remove shelter from seedlings - seedlings may die. The cover is removed when the sprouts reach a centimeter in height. Properly growing lobelia flowers from seed should keep the soil slightly moist at all times.
The seedlings should be watered very carefully at first - young shoots are too tender and they can simply fall from the weight of the water, so they should be watered under the roots with a syringe or pipette. It will take about three weeks for the plants to get stronger, and then they can be watered with less care.
Seedlings that have grown up to three centimeters, experienced flower growers recommend pinching. This contributes to the development and strengthening of the root system and increase the bushiness of the plant.
Lobelia Pick
A month after germination, lobelia seedlings need picking. The signal for this procedure is the appearance of the first two or three true leaves. There are two ways to do this:
- The plants are transferred to separate pots or special containers for seedlings, from which, together with a clod of earth, they are later transplanted into an opensoil.
- Lobelia dive in groups into a container using the square-nest method at a distance of four centimeters.
Lobelia: planting in open ground
Hardening seedlings continues growing lobelia from seeds. On the first day, it cannot be placed in the wind and sun. This is perfect for a warm, quiet day. Place seedlings in the shade. The next day - in partial shade, and only after that the plants can be put on a sunny site for an hour or two.
Where to plant seedlings?
Lobelia grows equally well in the sun, and in places where the sun's rays look for 2-3 hours a day. Therefore, there are no serious restrictions in choosing a landing site.
Plant pattern
By planting plants at a distance of 15 cm, you will get a solid carpet on your site, and with a distance between the bushes of 25 cm, you can grow free-standing beautiful balls.
Soil
Lobelia develops well on breathable loose soils without stagnant moisture. It should not be grown on fertile soils. Otherwise, the plant will accumulate green mass, and flowering will be weak. For the same reason, you should not use nitrogen fertilizers.
Irrigation
Lobelia, like most ornamental plants, prefers moderate watering, without waterlogging. When growing lobelia from seeds, the plant blooms profusely in open ground from June to the end of October. Lobelia tolerates a short drought quite easily, but when there is not enough moisture, the plant stops flowering.
