Carol, I have a large colony of lobelia syphillitica and about 5% of the seedlings have white flowers. If you were willing to grow a lot of plants you could probably get a few white ones. I have seen seeds for L. syphillitica alba for sale but can't remember where. They would have to be grown separately from any blue ones for a few generations, I would think, in order for them to consistently produce only white flowers. kms

karima, I have some great lobelia seed left over from a trade 2005. I got at one plant and it bloomed already the first year. I wintersowed it. I will send you the lobelia as well as a surprise pkg if you send me your address. alinehuey

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.

bumping down