Plants fill the house and yard with special energy and decorate them. The dream of every grower is to have beautiful bushes in his garden, strewn with small, incredibly delicate flowers pleasing to the eye with a variety of shades and a riot of colors. Such an unusual, interesting and bright plant is called Lobelia. Care and cultivation of lobelia is a difficult and painstaking process, but adhering to certain rules, taking into account the characteristics of the flower, it is easier to handle.
Botanical reference about the plant
Lobelia is a dicotyledonous, perennial plant from the Campanula family. Small bushes are abundantly covered with small flowers. The color of the petals depends on the variety of lobelia, the most common are white, blue and blue. Some of them are grown in hanging pots, planters, baskets and flowerpots.
In turn, varieties are divided into three main groups:
- Lobelia Erectus - upright bushes from 20 to 30 centimeters in height.
- Lobelia Compacta - species with round flowers, reaching a diameter of fifteen centimeters.
- Lobelia Pendula - plants with climbing, curly shoots up to thirty centimeters inlength.
Grow Lobelia in different places, it all depends on the plant variety. The flower will wonderfully decorate the borders of garden paths, it will look great near ponds, on alpine slides, in flowerpots. It looks spectacular in tandem with carnations, pelargonium and verbena. With the advent of cold weather, it is dug up and transplanted into containers. During the winter, lobelia is stored on the balcony, in the greenhouse, and with the onset of spring, it is planted back in the flower bed.
Species diversity
The following varieties are most popular among flower growers:
- Regatta rose - dwarf lobelia. Flowering lasts all summer, looks great in hanging pots and containers. Small flowers are painted red with white eyes in the middle.
- Riviera Blue Sky is low, hardy and compact. It blooms early, the petals are painted in a delicate blue color.
- Sapphire - a variety with a curly long stem (about 28 centimeters). Lobelia Sapphire is grown from seeds for decorating loggias, summer arbors, etc.
- Gerardii is a cold hardy, perennial variety. Blue and purple flowers delight with bright colors.
Everyone dreams of having a lobelia in their garden. Delicate plants will decorate your home or backyard.
Lobelia White Lady
A bright representative of the genus is the White Lady, which forms a snow-white bush of a spherical shape. Small, delicate flowers densely cover the stems. Lobelia White Lady is grown from seeds according to the standard scheme, she does not have certainrequirements. In early spring, the seeds are planted in pots to a depth of 2 millimeters, spraying warm water on top. Seedlings dive only after the appearance of the first young leaves. After two to three weeks, the flower is ready for planting in the ground. The soil for planting should be moist with plenty of organic matter and nutrients.
Propagation by cuttings
Growing lobelia, many people dream of planting some kind of flower in their home. The plant you like is perfectly preserved in a special container. Indoors, lobelia will bloom until January if the stems that are dying are cut off. After the end of flowering, lobelia smoothly passes into a period of winter dormancy, during which it rests and gains strength. This phase lasts approximately two months.
Closer to spring, young shoots sprout, they are suitable for cuttings. In order for the lower stems to acquire shoots, fresh soil must be added to the pot, while pushing the shoots apart in different directions. Then the rooted stems need to be transplanted into a container, laid on the soil and attached in several places with studs. It is near them that the roots will appear. Then, the child specimens are separated from the mother bush with a sharp knife and transplanted into a separate container.
Selecting planting material
The success of growing lobelia seedlings at home depends on the choice of seeds and their quality. If “erinus” is written on the package, then this is a bush lobelia, and manufacturers sometimes call ampelous lobelia cascade. Plants are spherical, lush and densebloom. The flowering bush is so dense that the leaves are not always visible. Cascading lobelia is more finicky, it requires a special approach and experience, besides, it blooms weaker and not so luxuriantly.
By the color of the flowers, gardeners have learned to determine the level of stability, vitality and how abundant the flowering of the plant will be. So, bushes with blue and blue flowers are resistant to temperature extremes and develop quickly, Lady's lobelia with white petals takes longer to sprout and requires special care. But the most capricious are purple and lilac varieties, which have poor germination rates, and bloom weakly.
Growing such a whimsical and capricious flower requires a lot of effort and time, but it's worth it.
Growing from seeds
The most common way to propagate varietal lobelia is seed. The best time for sowing seeds is early spring, since young plants develop very slowly, they will have time to get stronger in 2-3 months (before planting in the ground). To grow seedlings you will need:
- High capacity.
- Soil mix.
- Plastic film or glass.
The soil mixture should be prepared at the end of autumn, let it stand and freeze on the balcony or on the street. For the substrate, sand and leafy or soddy soil are used with the addition of humus in a ratio of 2:2:1. The finished mixture should be loose, well absorb water and breathable.
The substrate is ready, let's start growing and caring for lobelia. As a sowing containeruse seedling cassettes with pallets, plastic packaging and cups, egg trays. Pour the pre-prepared mixture into the tank, it is not necessary to tamp it, it is enough to slightly crush it. We evenly distribute the seeds over the surface, the frequency of planting affects the growth of the plant. Upon completion of sowing, the container must be wrapped with a film or covered with glass. The appearance of condensation indicates that the mini-greenhouse needs to be ventilated. This manipulation is best done once a day. An ordinary lamp is often used to illuminate seedlings. You need to install the backlight carefully and carefully so as not to burn the young sprouts.
If everything is done correctly, adhere to the rules and regulations, in a week and a half the first shoots will break through. At this stage, special attention must be paid to watering, do not allow the soil to dry out and do not flood it. For moistening, it is better to use a sprayer, this will allow you to distribute the liquid evenly over the entire surface. Water should be at room temperature and must be settled.
Outdoor planting and flowering
A month after sowing, the seedlings must be divided and planted in separate pots, as a rule, by this time they have 2-3 pairs of true leaves. Care requirements do not change even after transplantation. Watering is frequent and careful; it is not necessary to cover the container with foil. To plant plants in open ground, you must wait until the threat of spring return frosts has finally passed.
The best time to plant lobelia in the ground is May, since the cold has long since passed, and the hot heathasn't arrived yet. To safely grow lobelia, you should loosen the soil and fertilize it with minerals. Thanks to proper care, sowing and cultivation, lobelia will form the first inflorescences in early June and will delight the eye until autumn. However, dry yellowish shoots will become noticeable in September. Dried branches must be cut off, and the flower itself must be fed with fertilizer, watered and do not forget about loosening.
Tricks of cultivation and plant care
The main secret of growing lobelia is a competent choice of a place for planting. This is a heat-loving flower, bright sunlight favorably affects its development, so it is necessary to monitor soil moisture and prevent drying out. In drought, the plant does not bloom and eventually dies.
It is important that the soil is loose, without fresh manure and other compost fertilizers. Due to the soil saturated with humus, lobelia will cease to bloom densely. Plant nutrition is of particular importance when growing:
- Frequently and abundantly fertilize the flower is not necessary - it will only bring harm.
- The first feeding must be done two weeks after planting seedlings in open ground.
- For top dressing, use special complex mineral preparations for flowering garden plants.
- Repeated feeding is carried out before flowering. Thanks to the additional nutrition, the flowers will be larger and bloom more abundant.
- To speed up the second bloom, fertilize your green friend again.
Caremature plant
Care and cultivation of lobelia is a complex matter, without additional knowledge you may encounter difficulties. When planting a plant in a pot, you need to make sure that there are drainage holes in it, since lobelia does not tolerate high humidity. But the worst thing for a flower is dry soil. The hot summer sun damages the stems of lobelia, they gradually turn yellow and die, this leads to the death of the entire plant. To prevent the death of lobelia, the bush is cut off completely, and after fourteen days it grows with renewed vigor and even pleases with flowers. See what a he althy lobelia looks like in the photo. Growing in an optimal microclimate and proper care is the key to a he althy plant.
If the lobelia blooms poorly, the reason is in the wrong soil. The flower needs to be transplanted urgently.
Pick and pinch
First of all, you need to find out what a pick is. The process involves the removal of the terminal part at the tap root in order to stimulate the branching of the root system. Along the way, the seedlings are seated in individual pots. This technique allows you to get stronger plants that will easily survive planting in open ground. The total capacity does not allow the roots to develop normally. If lobelia seedlings are grown in one container, then when transplanting, the top layer is divided into small pieces, captured with a small spatula and transferred in this form to the ground.
The pick allows you to plant dense thickets and preserve the root system of the plant.
Pinch notis a mandatory process. But if you want to make the flower garden bright, thick and colorful, then you should use this opportunity.
Lobelia in landscape design
The plant is widely used in landscape design:
- On the flowerbed. Before disembarking, it is necessary to decide on the composition scheme. For a flower garden, lobelia erinus (bush) is grown. It covers the whole earth with an even carpet, forming spectacular bright spots on the flower bed.
- Ampel varieties look spectacular in hanging baskets. A thick, green cover densely covers the frame of the vine.
- In decorative flowerpots.
- When forming a flower tower from flowerpots.
Diseases and pests of lobelia
Growing lobelia, florists often encounter invasive processes that develop in plants and insects that damage bushes. In order to prevent unpleasant consequences in time, you need to know the signs of diseases:
- Thinning and darkening of the root part of the seedlings entails the death of the flower. This disease is called blackleg.
- Grey rot spreads on leaves and stems, the affected areas become covered with bloom and turn brown.
- Tracheomycosis wilt is scary for adult plants and young shoots. Dark vessels, yellowed leaves that have lost their attractiveness, indicate infection.
In addition to diseases, parasites and pests are terrible for Lobelia erinus when grown:
- Thrips that devour leaves. In places of mass accumulation, the plate becomes covered with light spots and begins to change shape over time.
- Slugs. Moving, they leave slippery marks and holes on the sheets.
Both the first and second are dangerous for a representative of the flora of this genus, because timely preventive treatment of the plant helps to preserve its attractiveness. Remember that the disease is easier to prevent than to cure.
Lobelia is a cute, delicate and airy flower. Even though it is difficult to grow, the result is worth it. Wherever you grow a plant (in the house on the window, in a pot or flowerpot on the balcony, in the open ground), it will certainly decorate the surrounding space with its presence.
