Lobelia flower: description, planting and care of the plant

Few of the admirers of flora will be able to give up the pleasure of having beautiful bushes in their garden, completely covered with small bright flowers. Lobelia usually belongs to the family of lobelia, sometimes bell-shaped. This low-growing perennial plant has more than 360 species, but in our strip only one of them is usually grown - Lobelia Erinus. The roots of this flower's history come from North and South America, where the conditions for its existence are humid, rocky places.

Some varieties of this beautiful plant have pharmaceutical properties, which allows them to be used in the manufacture of medicines, the use of which is associated with lung disease.

Content:

• Description of lobelia
• Planting lobelia
• Landing on open ground and flowering
• Tricks of growing and caring for lobelia

Description of lobelia

In modern floriculture, Lobelia is a plant that forms into small bushescompletely covered with small flowers. Their color is usually blue or blue, but sometimes white or red can be found. Some varieties of this plant are ampelous. It is they who are actively cultivated in home floriculture, as they look quite impressive when grown in suspended bowls.

Since the planting and care of Lobelia is not particularly difficult and does not require any special skills, it has become quite widespread among gardeners.

In general, there are many varieties of Lobelia, and all of them can be divided into three large groups, classified by plant height:

• Lobelia Erectus (represents branching, erect bushes with a height of 20-25cm).
• Lobelia Compact (spherical bushes, the diameter of which is about 15 cm).
• Lobelia Pendula (plant with long hanging shoots reaching up to 30cm in length).

All of them are used for planting in various places. If the latter is usually planted in bowls or hanging pots, then the latter can often be found planted along the paths or in a group in a clearing.

Planting lobelia

Growing Lobelia begins with planting seeds:

• This is usually done at the end of winter, since the development of the plant in the early stages is rather slow.
• You will need a seed for sowing some kind of container that will be filled with a mixture of soil, sand and humus in a ratio of 1-1-0.5. It is better to prepare this mixture in advance, somewhere in the beginning of autumn, and then leave it outside or on the balcony so that it freezes well.
• For a quality planting, the soil must be loose, it is good to pass both air and water through itself.
• After you have a substrate prepared in advance, you can proceed to planting and caring for Lobelia.
• The soil is placed in a container and slightly crushed, and the seeds are sprinkled with a thin layer on top without further covering with a layer of earth.
• It is worth paying attention to the frequency of planting seeds: the less often they are laid, the more they will grow in width, and not in height.
• After sowing, be sure to cover the bowl with plastic wrap or glass, or you can simply wrap it in a bag.
• The airing of the planted plant must be carried out once a day for half an hour, while removing the layer of formed condensation.

If you notice that the seedlings do not have enough light, then you need to carry out additional lighting using an ordinary lamp for this. However, you need to be careful and careful not to dry out or burn the plant.

Already in 8-10 days it is worth waiting for the first shoots of Lobelia.

At this stage, it is very important to pay attention to watering: the plant should not need water, but it should not "float" in it either. In the process of watering, you need be very careful, little by little pouring the liquid into the corner of the bowl. A spray can also work well for this purpose. For this, it is advisable to use water warm and settled in advance. Do not be alarmed if the sprouts are located too quickly to each other, because soon they will be planted in bunches in different places.

Landing on open ground and flowering

After sowing seeds we are waiting for the day when their age reaches about four weeks. During this period, it is necessary to divide your "line" into small bunches, each of which is planted in a separate glass. After such a planting of Lobelia, care for the sprouts should be the same as after sowing. It is necessary to water them often and carefully, but keep them in the open air, that is, without covering them with film or glass.

After this procedure, we wait until the sprouts reach a height of about 2.5-3 cm. Then it was time to plant young Lobelia on open ground.

It is best to do this in mid-May, when a slight cold snap is still possible, but not severe frosts. Before planting, it is necessary to prepare the kidney in advance: loosen thoroughly, fertilize with mineral dressings or fertilizers... These additional nutrients will help the plant thrive and withstand all environmental conditions.

As for the first flowering of this plant, it should be expected in early summer.

It lasts almost until the end of this time of the year, so you can admire the beautiful flowers for a long time. However, by the end of August, you can notice the appearance of dry shoots, which must be cut off (about 3-4 cm from the root). After that, Lobelia is fed with additional fertilizers, the soil is loosened and watered. After this procedure, you can still several months from the second flowering, usually even brighter and more luxuriant, of this representative of the flora.

Tricks of growing and caring for lobelia

Before planting any plant, it is important not only to prepare the soil for this procedure, but also to choose the right place. Lobelia is a flower that is very fond of warmth and sun rays. It is important that he does not need water, as it is quite difficult to tolerate drought and because of it it can stop blooming. If you nevertheless planted this plant in a shady place, then all the more constant watering is necessary.

Ideally, for Lobelia, a place is suitable where shadow and light will periodically replace each other, which will make the plant's existence more comfortable.

Speaking of the soil, it should be mentioned that for the prosperous existence of Lobelia, it must be very loose, allow air and liquid to pass through itself, and also not contain fresh compost fertilizers or manure. If it is too saturated with humus, then the plant, although will grow more actively, but will clearly reduce the range of its flowering.

It is worth paying attention to such a process as feeding:

• There is no need to thoughtlessly fill the plant with fertilizers, since this not only will not be beneficial, but may even be harmful.
• The very first feeding should be carried out only 10-14 days after the direct planting of the plant on open ground.
• For this, exclusively organic fertilizers are used, which will give Lobelia all the substances she needs.
• The second top dressing must be carried out at a time when the plant is preparing for flowering, using a special liquid fertilizer for flowers. This will make the upcoming flowering more lush and longer.
• Another repetition of feeding is carried out before the second flowering of Lobelia, which will accelerate the flowering process itself.

More information can be found in the video.