I WS Lobelia cardinalis (red) and Lobelia siphilitica (blue) from traded seeds this year. The L. cardinalis was WS 12/26 and sprouted 4/28. The L. siphilitica was WS 1/16 and sprouted 5/12 according to my sprout chart. The blue flowered in August along with the red I WS last year. I didn't jot down what germ rate I got but it was pretty high judging by the large clumps I planted out. I saw the hummingbird on the red several times over the course of the summer. The bees went nuts for the blue.

Both seed types are excellent WS candidates. I have them listed with seeds that need cold stratification. The red cardinal flower forms a basal rosette of leaves the first year and sends up tall stems of brilliant red flowers the second. The stems are stiff & upright. I only staked the tallest stems after the hurricane blew through because I wanted to harvest seeds once the pods ripened. The seeds are extremely tiny--more like dust than seeds. I'll take a picture and post it so you can see.

Lobelia cardinalis/cardinal flower
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Lobelia siphilitica/great blue lobelia
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My friend here in College Park grew the red variety this year and I saw them, She wants more next year. They were beautiful and the butterflies and bees love them.

These lobelia are the lower type..gets about 5 inches tall that I am talking about.. Crystal palace blue and cambridge blue and there's another one called Bed o'Roses that is rose/mauve color and is more of a succulent. Good for beds and borders and rock/alpine gardens and potted containers and hanging baskets.

They wintersow very well. Hummers love 'em.
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Karen

Pippi, I think the lobelia you're talking about is Lobelia erinus, the annual one. I sowed variety 'Fountain' last winter. According to my note, I sowed them on 02/27/11. In my zone 6, they germinated on 04/07/11. They germinated very well and looked beautiful in containers!

By now I suppose people are sick of hearing about my lost year, but I got some nice Lobelia Cardinalis out of it, came from Prairie Moon Nursery. When I could face the mess, I rescued things that looked like possible plants from piles of stuff that had been neglected all last year, and I thought they were dianthus, potted them up in 16 oz cups (from now on 12 oz so I don't have to dig as deep a hole lol).

Anyway, all of a sudden they started blooming, and I knew instantly they weren't dianthus but lobelia (of course the foliage is totally diffeent duh). I was elated. So I read up a little, they like to form colonies along streams and riverbanks and planted my 2+ plants per container in a boggy spot when it rains. One got bent over and made seeds it looks like but the other is still blooming out there, and it warms my heart to see that splash of red. I hope they will form a colony in there with the monarda and attract hummingbirds.

Those photos are gorgeous! I have a couple but not worth posting. I just love the cardinalis, and the other varieties are really showy, too.

Now I see there is a perennial variety of bachelor's button. I'm not having much luck getting my true blue flowers, so disappointed in Veronica Royal Candles, definitely purple spires. I planted them anyway.

BTW, I have high hopes for my Baptisia Purple Smoke. The flowers didn't amount to much, they bloom early, but the foliage is so pretty and has spread into a really nice stand, am really hopeful for it next spring.

Best of all, I'm getting excited about winter sowing again but will try to restrain myself from trying to do too much and then things spiralling out of control. I buy plants, too, so that is cheating but that's how I do. I must say I've curbed my spending on seeds and all of it, will make do as best I can then buy what I must, potting soil doesn't go that far.

I don't know if people saw my post asking for an id for what turned out to be pokeweed and also a separate thread asking for an id on nutsedge. Alas, both I think came from Prairie Moon because they feature pokeweed and all kinds of sedges in their catalog. Don't hesitate to buy from them, just make sure what you sow is clean before setting it out. You do not want what I got with the nutsedge. The pokeweed I can get rid of the last of it with RU if I have to; luckily that's only in one spot I can easily watch.

My kids gave me a hanging basket of annual lobelia two years ago. I set the basket aside for the winter and the next year it was filled with seedlings. Same for this spring. I didn't even cover the hanging basket. Just put it outside in a semi-shaded area and waited for the self sown seeds to germinate.

Years before I would ws the lobelia. Now I don't, one less jug.

Also this year I found some seedlings under the deck below where last year's basket was hanging.

Mine disappeared. About 3-weeks after I planted them? The same with the Salvia's. They never took off. They just died out.