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Overrun with lobelia

18 years ago

For some reason or another, both Lobelia cardinalis and siphilitica reseeded like crazy last year and germinated even more so this year. There are a couple of patches of L. cardinalis in my wet field that are at a minimum 10' x 15'! The hummingbirds are beside themselves!

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Comments (6)

bob64
18 years ago
That is great! Is there anything different about this year from last that might have helped? More/less rain, sun, etc.?
Lynda Waldrep
18 years ago
Oh, I am so envious. After last year's drought, most of mine near the lake did not come back, and I probably had fifty or so plants. This year seems even worse for many of my plants. No rain two seasons in a row seems to be affecting even the most hardy of natives.
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Hi, I don't think many plants compete well with the ivy. Someone here can probably comment more on that. The plants you've chosen have a rather large variety of growing requirements... V. bluebells generally take a rich woodsy soil with a fair amount of shade. V. creeper is a ground cover that I don't think will do well in pots. Elderberries get very big, sucker and like quite a bit of water and at least part sun. Green coneflowers get very big. I have huge clumps of them growing by the creek. I am not positive of their growing requirements, but they are growing wild in my yard in part sun and above average moisture. Great blue lobelia requires at least part sun and above average moisture. That might do OK in a pot. Some types of milkweed have a large taproot, so I'm not sure they will do well in pots. I'm not sure if they all have taproots, though. Blue wood aster may do OK in pots. Most types of JPW get very large. They like above average water and at least part sun, preferably full. While I think there are many natives that would do well in pots, I am not sure all those you have in mind would work well. I hope I'm not discouraging you from trying natives in pots. You may want to do a little more research on what you chose to try. Hopefully others here can offer their thoughts. I'm by no means an expert. As far as IDs, the only one I know from your pics is the one in the pink pot--a hosta. Blue Ridge Mountain Girl
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Sultry The main problem with Goddess is growth. It grows so rapidly during summer it will fill every square inch of the 5x10 pool. Then the pads start to stack up so requires a lot of pruning. Now if I had a large pool like Anna would be great except you wouldn't be able to close enough to appreciate the aroma.. Of course if I had Annas pool I'd be growing Victoria lilies . Even bigger problem Two years ago I finally found a"False agave" Cochliostema jacobiana finally flowered in Dec. Very impressive flowers though the cold spell did them in but plant seems okay . Even more impressive than the flowers was the aroma,reminded me of lilac except MUCH stronger. Would love to post a pic but computer won't accept new files and my expert (wife) hasn't been able to fix it . The flowers opened deep purple with lavender sepals on bright pink stems in clusters a foot wide. Have never been able to locate a blue hibiscus .Would think they would do well in florida?? Since the neighbors took out the hedge while putting in a fence I just might have a square foot out there ?? lol gary
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joepyeweed
18 years ago
I've heard the l. cardinalis reseeds readily. But it kind of struggles in my rain garden. Its having a hard time competing with the rudbeckia triloba that is taking over everything. I am chopping those down before they seed...

I have a few but the numbers are down. The hummers do manage to find them, even though they are kind of buried.
nobucklemyshoe
Original Author
18 years ago
Joepyeweed - I've got plenty of your namesake also and am pulling that out like crazy.

Bob64, I'm not sure why it's become so rampant. I even have it growing on a very dry slope, in amongst Rhus aromatica.
terrene
18 years ago
Oh I bet those are so beautiful! There are a couple hummingbirds that regularly tussle over my L. cardinalis. They love it! With a patch as big as you have, there's plenty to share.

I just planted it this Spring - bought 2 pots on sale last fall, discovered that each pot was actually 2 or 3 smaller plants, and planted them in a patch. They are big and blooming like crazy - and loving the wet summer we're having. We've gotten approx 1 1/2 feet of rain this summer, great for the moisture-loving plants.
joepyeweed
18 years ago
joepyeweed is fairly aggressive, it doesn't surprise me that you would be pulling it out - all over the place. I snip off a lot of flower heads, to prevent it from seeding, the rhizomes are bad enough.

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