Did you cover the seed? Lobelia needs light to germinate. It should just be sprinkled on top of the soil and gently pressed down to have contact with the soil. Lightly mist them every day to keep the seeds moist The optimum temperature for germination is 65F to 75F or 18C to 24C so you might rethink the heat mat. They also take a long time to germinate--up to 3 weeks-- so be sure you are not giving up too soon. I grow them every year in my greenhouse and have never had a problem with them. I keep it at around 10C at night and the sun heats it in the day. I hope this helps

Thompson and Morgan carries Cambridge Blue Lobelia. I have a blue with white eye trailing lobelia on my list. They are 2008 seeds from Pinetree. Let me know if you're interested. Karen

Hello, friends. I know this question is not about perennials, but the other more pertinent forums seem to have little to no activity on them. So...I know that blue Lobelia is spectacular here in the spring, but it burns out by summertime. I am wondering if it can/should be seeded here in the fall like we do larkspur, poppies, etc? Does anyone know how cold it can get before it dies? I have searched the web to no avail. Thank You!

Anise Hyssop A terrific plant which spits out a billion seeds. TINY seeds. Super-seeder, much like catnip is. A pretty great plant: huge purple fuzzy flowers, amazing licorice smell, a nice tea. - some seeds are black, some brown. All viable? I don't know if all the black and browm seeds are viable, but I find that you get so many seeds that it doesn't matter - just sprinkle a very small pinch of seeds over your sowing container and you'll have a big clump that'll need thinning. as an aside, you'll find that tons of seeds will have germinated outdoors near your plants. I never bother sowing these seeds myself - I just dig up a clump 'o seedlings and put it in a pot. I pull up the rest of the seedlings, because there's always a ton of them, but they come out really easily, so it's not a problem. This doed not need cold treatment, but it is a good wintersowing candidate, if you're into that. Indoors I'd start it 4-6 weeks early. Lobelia (Lobelia erinus) I *think* the amber-coloured almost-dust-mote-sized bits are the seeds (next year I'll get individual seedheads and pour them out, but this year it's gather and hunt). I just save the dried flowers more or less intact and crush them over the soil when I sow them. The seeds are so fine that I can't see it being worth the effort to seperate them out! Doesn't need cold, needs to be started on the early side indoors - I start mine about 8-10 weeks early. Swan River Daisy (Brachycome iberidifolia) Pretty little flowers, and I think I can rescue some seedheads. Only 1 pot, and it was neglected. I'll do my best. This also has small seeds, but not nearly as small as lobelia! I'd just save a dried seedhead and crumble it over the soil as well. I've never grown this one from seed, but based on simmilar ones I've grown, I'd guess it doesn't need cold either, and should probably be started some 6-8 weeks early. A lot of people go to a lot more fuss than is necessary with seeds. As long as you let the flower head dry completely, there's no harm in storing the seeds that way. I also have to toss in my two cents on the fermentation issue (particularly for tomato seeds) - it's a messy, smelly process that I've found to be unnecessary. I have germination rates of 95-100% without it, so I can't see why it's worth the trouble :-) BP