I had planned for trailing blue lobelia (Lobelia erinus) to be a main feature in my window boxes. Unfortunately, the seedlings got to an inch high and...well..stopped. Looks like no lobelia. Meanwhile everything else is growing fine. As it's a bit late, I was hoping to find some lobelia plants to put in, but so far, no luck. I'm hoping someone can suggest a comparable substitute for my window boxes. That is, blue, with similar size and habit? And, something that is more likely to be available in a form other than seeds. I'm sure there are some experienced container gardeners out there who can help me? What about Nemesia fruticans for example?
Many thanks!!
Deb
Substitute for trailing Lobelia?
I'm sure your local nurseries will have some lobelia soon, that's such a universally popular plant I'm sure it'll be all over the nurseries before too long. I can't imagine they would be done selling it for the year, here you can find it at nurseries all through the summer so I'm sure you'll find some. Lithodora would be a potential substitute--I'm not sure how well it'll trail but it stays pretty low to the ground so I think it'll give you a similar effect. There are a couple cultivars, some have solid blue flowers, some have blue & white. Nemesia fruticans is pretty but the ones I've seen tend to be more upright so I'm not sure if they'll trail the way you want.
Thank you Ecrane. So, you're saying I should be patient. (Not my strong suit.) OK. I'll give it a couple of weeks. :) I actually have some Lithodora and it hadn't even occurred to me. I'll keep it in mind as a back up.
Deb
Deb, although the foliage is different, Evolvulus glomeratus 'Blue Daze' would work
I actually like the foliage better - it's a blue-green and complements the blue "button" flowers. I've used it as an edger and it's always performed well for us in our hot, humid summers and blooms continuously all summer. This year I'm thinking I need to try it in containers http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/20996/.
Debbie
This little plant would make a viable substitute for lobelia. I grew it last year and it worked as well as lobelia. Photo has lobelia growing in same big pot for comparison. The purple plant's name is Monopsis. I grew it from seed from Value Seeds last year.
another view
Another one to consider is Torenia--it comes in some colors other than blue too but I'm pretty sure there are blue ones.
Oooh! more suggestions! Great! Thanks guys. I'm taking notes on all of them.
That's what I love about DG. I was drawing a blank on my own. Now I have "choices".
:D
Deb
Deb, try Mischel's (http://www.mischelsgreenhouses.com/) - they usually have lobelia and torenia and lots of other annuals.
Thanks Victor!
Deb
A little blue/purple Wave Petunia?
Hey Debin...
How about Calibrachoa. I had planted this in some containers and didn't know the name until I found some tonight and bought more.
It's just the prettiest plant and blooms profusely. Seems to thrive in a wide variety of conditions and soils. There are other names for it and it comes in such a wide variety of colors. Love it! Comes in a blue -purple shade.
Here's the link on plantfiles:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/950/index.html
This message was edited Apr 14, 2007 12:19 AM
I am really high on Callibrachoa (not in the smoking sense). I recommended it on another container thread. Fantastic annual - maybe the finest I've grown.
Aguane: I have a huge container of purple wave Petunias in a partly shaded spot and some more in a bed with yellow lantana. I love them but by mid-summer - for me anyway - they start to look a little sad if they're not in the ground with a bit of shade.
Kat and Victor: Your preachin' to the choir on the calibrachoa. I love the stuff. Some even over-wintered in my makeshift greenhouse. I actually have it in the beds beneath these window boxes- which came back from last year. And a couple of pots of yellow and a couple of purple,...and red. I've O.D.'d on it! :) It's definitely a good backup choice if the lobelia idea falls through.
Oh, and Victor, I checked that link to Mischels and have added them to my 'favorites'. They have lobelia and just about every other annual I haven't been able to find locally yet!
Deb
Good to hear Deb. I've been ordering from them for many years.
Deb: I love Lobelia but I just can't find it around here often. Planted a bunch of the terra-cotta calibrachoa today, with a little new gold lantana and ornamental sweet potato (black) around newly potted Bottle Palms...
Calibrachoa is such a happy little plant! :)
Debin,
I thrive on Lobelia! It's my favorite color, etc. I crave it. Anyway I finally figured out around here, at least, it's easy to buy until Memorial Day. After that, HD and friends are either sold out, or they've potted up the leftovers into mixed hanging baskets for outrageous prices. I'm sure there's a comparable deadline around by you. Ask at the garden centers. Plus, I love everyone else's trailing blue flowers!
xxxxx, Carrie
Carrie: I actually saw one hanging container of Lobelia at Lowe's yesterday. It had been allowed to dry out and looked absolutely awful. So, I "rescued" it and if it recovers, I may splilt it up for the window boxes. Otherwise...Plan B!
Kat: This is my favorite color of Calibrachoa... Not sure what this shade is called.
Deb
Beautiful, Deb. I had one like that from Mischel's last year. They called it Caribbean something.
Victor, it's Caribbean Sunset. I think.
xxxxx, Carrie
Good name. :)
I just got a couple of those carabean sunsets. I just love calibrochia.
I also got something like firecracker red and a yellow. I never saw such
a selection of colors as the nursery had this year.
Tam
If something is ONLY propagated vegetatively, i.e. seeds don't exist, is it true, or just what they tell us? How is this possible?
xxx, Carrie
It is a clone - exactly the same plant as the 'parent'.
But every year they have more and different colors. I understand the concept, but do they drop one cell of the parent in a test tube?
Different colors mean different cultivars - so they were hybridized, not cloned.
Gosh, I still don't get it. OK, one day there was the mother of all callies. She was probably yellow. To make more of her, gardeners dropped one of her cells in each tube of magic solution, and then had as many clones as they wanted. It's like who did Cain and Abel marry? How did the second callie come into existence? And to hybridize, did they drop cells of two different colored plants into the same test tube?
Scratching head.
xxx, Carrie
There were two plants that were originally crossed, one pollinated the other and seeds formed. The plants that grew from those seeds are a hybrid of the two parents and often won't come true from seed (and some hybrids are sterile and don't produce seeds at all), so in order to keep making more of that hybrid and make sure it's exactly the same each time, it has to be reproduced asexually, by methods such as cuttings, layering, grafting, or tissue culture (which is what I think you're talking about with the dropping cells into magic solution?). So once someone gets a hybrid that's the perfect yellow color, they'll probably start cloning that plant so they can get more of the same thing, but if they also want to create new colors every year they'll keep crossing the plants they have that are other colors, see what the babies look like, and anytime they find one they like and want more of, then they'll do cuttings/tissue culture/etc to propagate it.
Thank you, ercane!
So they do make seeds, or reproduce sexually somehow, so there's something with which to hybridize. Off to go look up 'tissue culture'. Thanks.
xxxxx, Carrie
As ercane said, "some hybrids are sterile". Saving and planting those seeds is an exercise in futility.
To have a new variety (color) requires sexual reproduction and seeds.
That's exactly what I said, to get the hybrid plant in the first place you need to cross two plants and then grow the seeds, but once you have a hybrid that you like and you want to make more of the same, the best way is to use one of the asexual propagation techniques.
Thank you all. I think I understand. It's confusing, though. I wish they would make a pretty one that made true seeds. And I wouldn't mind unreliable seeds - it would be exciting to get different strange colors with every seedling! Wouldn't it?
xxx? Carrie