I sowed it last year with no problem. I would wait until mid to late March. Make sure you surface sow and spritz with water so the seeds make good contact with the soil. Crystal palace is a beautiful container plant if its not allowed to dry out.

Ellen

Ooh - glad you posted this. I have Crystal Palace too that I'm waiting to sow. I'm glad to hear that it does well.

I plan on edging my annual bed with it and with some Sweet Alyssium Carpet of Snow. Hoping to have them sort of foam over the bricks.

I did hear that once you let it dry out, it never recovers...something to keep in mind.

Great, thanks for the advice, I'll try sowing it in March. I've grown it in my containers before, but not from seed. It's always fun to try something new from seed.

"I did hear that once you let it dry out, it never recovers...something to keep in mind"

nope, this is NOT going to do well in my yard, figures if it is called "crystal palace" that its fussy like a princess, eh?

:)

I WS annual Lobelia every year. Love it. Always buy more seeds. My favorite is 'Blue Cascade', though. I sow them in paper pots then plop them in paper pot and all at planting time.

This is an older pic:
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great photo, pitimpinai. I like blue cascade also, when do you wintersow yours? In March? or earlier?

This is one of my easiest WS plants. Put it out anytime (Dec through March) and forget it. It just always does great.

My favorite is Cambridge Blue though. Much bluer than the Crystal Palace, which I find to be more purple.

I find it to be very drought tolerant, though. I just plant it and forget it. I put it in the ground rather than in pots, so maybe that's what makes the difference. Beware: the slugs love it, so get your Sluggo ready as the weather starts to warm.

I did some in z5 and it was amazing. I threw a handful of potting soil in a tree stump some in a pipe I was using as a planter and some in a hanging basket and it went till frost in all three places without much help from me.
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I really wish I had more for this year.

You can tell I was ready to sow these right now. Glad someone else gave me the go ahead :)thanks gardenscout!

Thanks, weebay. I sow mine in March.

Love this Lobelia. In fact, whenever I find seeds, I would horde them no matter which variety.
Right now I have Crystal Palace (4), Cambridge Blue (3), Blue Cascade (2)and Trailing Saphphire (2)
lol.
And 1 from trade and a small handful that I collected from my own last year. :-D

Mine does much better in partial shade and seems to prefer the cooler part of the season. It blooms very early and lasts well into November through light frost.

My Lobelia in May
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The bottom row of HOSs are Lobelia, upper two were Bellis Perennis
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They grow very well and started to bloom in the middle of July
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Lobelia in October
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They did better in afternoon shade than in full sun.
IÂm planning a lot more Lobelia this year :)

spela those are just wonderful.