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Hummingbird Garden

Lobelia cardinalis seedlings

11 years ago

The seedlings pictured here were photographed in June. The next pic shows the same plants yesterday, before I put them into the ground. How about those roots? :-)

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Comments (18)

ctnchpr
11 years ago
Excellent, Dave!!!
beaniebeagle
11 years ago
crap, i killed a bunch of those seedlings without knowing what they were.
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Substitute for Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)?
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Mine are definitely coming back from the original plants. However, they make "offshoots" or "offsets" in the fall, and that is what actually overwinters. There is a great explanation about Lobelia cardinalis and the way it winters over in William Cullinas book on Wildflowers. It is one of my favorite books and will type an excerpt: "Lobelias are not true perennials, because the flowering stem and its associated roots die after setting seed. They are perennial in effect only because new offsets grow from the axils of the lowermost leaves and quickly put down their own abundant white roots. It is especially important, then that these new offsets be coddled a little in the fall. Think of them as seedlings that must be kept free of debris and competition so that they will have a chance to establish roots before winter. With a little attention, the plants will come back indefinitely." That is why I dead head these plants, including removing the seed pods as they are forming and even before a stalk has finished blooming. I want them to establish healthy offsets for the winter.
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Silverkelt your daylily seedlings are beautiful!! I can only hope the seedlings I've sown this year and last will be so nice. I've gotten seeds from a SASBE and also from the Lily Auction, and none of them have bloomed yet, not even last year's seedlings, due to limited sun. Adidas, I have wintersown Lobelia cardinalis and many species of Asclepias - as I have a certified Monarch Waystation and raise Monarch butterflies each year. In fact, I am just winding down from a very busy Monarch season, and coming back to the forums to check out what's going on. Winter sowing works well for both, although most of my Lobelia cardinalis seedlings sow themselves out in the garden paths and in bare spots. I transplant them to a new spot, and a new patch is started! Asclepias is a fussy genus - but winter- or spring-sowing works well. They will also reseed sometimes. In my experience they don't need much cold stratification, and the seedlings are easy to transplant. After that, I have mixed success! Asclepias curassavica ends up being the best and prettiest winter-sown species - and it makes a great host plant for the Monarchs.
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hummersteve
11 years ago
Dave

Very nice indeed strong looking roots and that is key. Is that rootball of the 3 seedlings only?
terrene
11 years ago
Great root systems, and I bet those will be beautiful stalks of brilliant red next year!
dave_k_gw
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks,

HummerSteve, the rootball is just the three plants. I used Miracle Gro potting soil which is mostly peat and includes fertilizer in little time release balls. I've had good results with it for other potted annuals. Around the same time I also planted some seedlings directly into my poor backyard soil. Some of those survived but growth was nothing compared to the potted L. cardinalis.
hummersteve
11 years ago
Dave

I agree potting soils with the food already in them is better. How about the watering of the lobelia. Did you manual water or what method did you use and how often. I ask this since these plants usually like a good bit of water.
dave_k_gw
Original Author
11 years ago
Lots of hand watering. Kept in shade when little and moved into some sun later. I think the pot protects from bugs when tiny, and the stones are my solution to squirrels, which like to dig my plants out of pots. They seem durable once established.
ladyrose65
11 years ago
This is nice. I think I might have ditched mine because I thought they were foxgloves. Do you have a picture of entire plant? Beautiful picts.
hummersteve
11 years ago
Dave

I also have cardinal flower in the ground now for a couple of years and doing well.

I hope you present photos of yours come spring/summer flowering.
dave_k_gw
Original Author
11 years ago
A couple of the smaller ones bloomed just before frost. They were blue. I'm hoping some of the others will be red this year. I bought the seeds online from "Seedville USA". Maybe I shouldn't have.
ctnchpr
11 years ago
If the blooms were blue, you have another lobelia. They should look like this...
dave_k_gw
Original Author
11 years ago
ctnchpr,
I know. Here's the seed packet,

and the actual plant, from the same seed.
dave_k_gw
Original Author
11 years ago
I'm thinking it's actually Great Blue Lobelia, (Lobelia siphilitica). A good hummingbird plant with an unfortunate name. The flowering ones were small, probably because they're only one growing season in age.
terrene
11 years ago
Looks like you got a mix of L. cardinalis and L. siphilitica seeds in your packet. I shared some L. cardinalis seeds in a SASBE on the seed exchange a couple years back, and the recipient ended up getting a L. siphilitica seedling too. And they were commercial seeds, so the mix up was not my fault!

I am little jealous, I only get L. cardinalis seedlings. But not too jealous, they are both gorgeous plants!
dave_k_gw
Original Author
10 years ago
My seed grown Lobelia are beginning to bloom. All came through the winter OK, and I'm glad to see there are some cardinalis in the bunch! :-)
dave_k_gw
Original Author
10 years ago
Here are the same plants as in the first photo above.
dave_k_gw
Original Author
10 years ago
Same plants as first above, 2013 07 30.
hummersteve
10 years ago
Heres My Third year plant- I have another first year plant thats not nearly as red this year.

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