I live in Iowa and treated them as annuals also. I started mine from seed indoors during the winter (2 years in row) and got blooms but so much later that I decided to not grow them anymore. They were very pretty and I just loved them my first year. They were different than the nursery bought ones years before. Mine were bigger. And the blooms went through different looks as they matured and I liked that. I tried to prevent the rosetting in the seedling stage but without success. I can't seem to keep them cool enough under lights in my basement. But most of them did bloom - just at the very end of the summer/early fall.

I started lisianthus from seed (wintersowing method) in 2004 - it didn't bloom for me, so I brought it indoors, wintered it over, and had beautiful blooms in 2005. I must have just been in awe, because I don't remember cutting any, so I can't answer your question about how good they are as cut flowers, but they look as if they'd be great in a vase. Because they didn't bloom the first year, I vowed I wouldn't do them again, but I have wintersowed a batch this year, and right now, I have lovely, healthy plants that won't make it to bloom, so I'll winter them over again. I wintersow because I have neither space nor inclination to grow indoors, but indoor sowing is the way to go with lisianthus - assuming you have a decent set-up and don't normally get leggy seedlings or damp-off problems. The seed to bloom time is very long with lisianthus. I'll have nice blooms in 2007!

I'm a long way from Australia, but I have grown lisianthus from seed, and they do, indeed, grow VERY, VERY slowly. I started seeds indoors under lights in January, which was obviously not early enough. Planted outdoors in early June, they only started to bud up in early October and no flowers had opened by the time frost hit a couple of weeks later. I knew they didn't have a prayer of surviving a Minnesota winter, so I potted three of them up and overwintered them in a sunny west window. It wasn't easy, they looked awful, but perked up in spring. I planted them outdoors around June 1 and they were in bloom by early July and were quite spectacular the rest of the growing season. Since then I've bought plants. For me they grow best in rich, moist but well-drained soil and benefit from a bit of shade during the hottest part of the day. The ones I planted in sandy, poorer soil never did much in terms of growth or blooms. I fed mine with an extended release fertilizer with a high middle number. I think in very mild (no frosts/light frost) areas they might be perennials. They are bred, I believe, from a native perennial Colorado wildflower, so I think your cool nights should be very good for them. I hope others with a climate more similar to yours offer you information/advice. Good luck! Kate

What kind did you buy? A couple of the new hybrids tend to grow more quickly. Sounds like they are doing fine.