Re: lobelias
Jeanne:
Now you may have a problem. It sounds to me like the tag you found in
the garage may not match the plant we think is Lobelia gerardii in the
garden...And here is why I think so. Firstly, I was confused about one
part of your first post- and that was why this plant was not yet
blooming (especially when purchased last year)...My drift of
gloriously blooming 60+ plants are First Year seeedlings from this
years sowing.....Depending on when you got the plant last year, it
should have bloomed then already & certainly already by now....
The other (more telling) sign is the appearance of fluffy dandelion
like seeds flying all over your yard, instead of flowers. On rare
occasions, plants will bypass their proper flower development & head
straight into seed production. This happened to me this year with
Aster alpinus. Reason for this is usually some sort of stress on
plant: drought, damage, etc....If this is Lobelia gerardii which has,
for some reason bypassed its flowering & gone on to seed production,
then I know we are not talking about the same plant- As a seedswoman,
I know these are not the seeds of any Lobelia- which would be small,
hard and brown. What you have is obviously in the larger Compositae
family (the Asters, Erigerons etc among them)....any of those types of
plants produce fluffy, air born seeds like you describe....
So this means, I am afraid you are back to square one. Why did you
think it was a Lobelia to begin with???
Kristl
Gardens North Rare Seed
N. Gower, Ont
Z4
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