How to Grow and Care for Lobelia

Beautiful 2-lipped tubular flowers with intense color, each with 5 lobes – that’s what makes lobelias one of the most popular and most beautiful garden plants.

Lobelia is a genus of flowering plants comprising 415 species primarily found in tropical to warm temperate regions of the world, but in cooler climates as well. We know lobelia as an attractive annual herb with many varieties, all coming in different attractive colors. It is a beautiful addition to any garden. The best part about lobelias is that they are so easy to grow and care for! If you are mesmerized by their beauty and want to have them in your garden then you are at the right place as we are going to share everything you need to know on how to grow and care for lobelia.

Lobelia is an easy growing, versatile herb you can plant freely in your garden, use as a border, in hanging baskets, containers. ground covers etc. The one thing you should have in mind before choosing your lobelia variety is it’s mature height which is important for choosing the perfect planting location. L. inflata(Indian tobacco), L. cardinalis (Cardinal flower), and L. siphilitica are the most common varieties for home gardening.

One of the most popular varieties of lobelia is called Indian tobacco and this is because Native Americans once smoked lobelia plant to treat asthma. Another name for lobelia is pukeweed because it was once prescribed the plant to induce vomiting. We have to warn you though that the plant is poisonous so don’t try this at home.

Planting & Fertilizing

When choosing the perfect planting location for your lobelia, have in mind that almost every variety prefers partial shade, although they can grow quite nicely in full sun as well. As for the soil, make sure it is nutrient rich and well hydrated. Offer a water soluble fertilizer each month for best results.

Watering

Watering is important for lobelia’s blooming. Soil should be kept moist constantly. Water annuals with 1 1/2 inches of water per week while perennials less frequently but deeply. However, you should allow the top soil to dry between waterings.

Pruning

Another great thing about lobelias is that they are self-cleaning plants that don’t require removing of faded flowers like many other annuals. But when the first blooming season is over it is best to prune the stems which will encourage the production of new blooms.

Annual Lobelia

If you want to grow annual lobelia out of seeds then all you need to do is spread the seeds on top of the soil and water thoroughly then place them in a warm, light place. In a week or two, when the seeds start popping out, you can start thinning them out. When there is no fear of frost anymore and your plants are around 2-3 inches tall it is time to transplant them in the garden, ideally 4-6 inches apart.

Perenial Lobelia

During winter you should provide pine needles mulch to protect the root system. This is for perennial varieties of course. You can also cut back perennial lobelias to just above ground level after blooming has ceased. As for the annual varieties, pull them out and discard them once heavy frost kills them in autumn.

 

How to Grow and Care for Lobelia

Tips For Growing Rosemary Herb Plants

Rosemary is a fragrant evergreen herb native to the Mediterranean, with a wonderful smell that is often associated with good food and great time. It is also good for your health; it contains substances that are useful for stimulating the immune system, increasing circulation, and improving digestion.

Rosemary also contains anti-inflammatory compounds that may make it useful for reducing the severity of asthma attacks. The name rosemary derives from the Latin ros meaning “dew” and marinus meaning “sea” – “sea dew.” Rosemary’s leaves look like flat pine-tree needles, deep green in color on top while silver-white on their underside. There are many varieties of rosemary, each with slightly different properties. Some grow very bushy and tall, while others tend to trail; some have purple or blue flowers, some white. Grown from either plants or seeds, rosemary is an outstanding perennial performer in any herb garden. Plants can be brought indoors to overwinter in colder zones. Rosemary is also ideal for a rock garden or the top of a dry wall. You can even train rosemary into topiary shapes and the plants are tolerant of salt spray, making them a good choice for pots on the beach.

Propagation

Rosemary is easiest to grow from a cutting, rather than planting seeds. You can get cuttings preferably in late spring, from your local nursery, or even better find a rosemary plant you admire and clip off a few 4 inch pieces to propagate. You have to place each cutting into a small pot of soil filled with two-thirds coarse sand and one-third peat moss. Set the pot in a sunny place, but not in direct sunlight. Water the cuttings regularly and keep in a warm spot until the roots form, which should take about three weeks.

Planting

You can plant the rosemary either in pots or outdoors in your garden, as Rosemary will adapt to most growing conditions and is quite hardy. It will grow its best, in a warm to hot, fairly dry climate. If planting in the garden, choose soil that drains well. Rosemary can suffer from root rot in waterlogged soil.

Care

Rosemary prefers a drier soil, so don’t overdo the watering. It will be happy with the average garden watering. This is not a herb that needs fertilizer. However, make sure that there is some lime in the soil.

Rosemary prefers a drier soil, so don’t overdo the watering. It will be happy with the average garden watering. This is not a herb that needs fertilizer. However, make sure that there is some lime in the soil.

Since rosemary is evergreen, you can harvest it all year round, by picking rosemary leaves as needed. You can also freeze rosemary by placing it in food storage bags and storing in the freezer. Otherwise, strip the leaves from the stems and store in airtight jars. Stored this way, rosemary will slowly dry and will keep for several months.

How to use Rosemary

You can put Rosemary to both sweet and savory dishes. Use it to add depth to meat and chicken, bread or butter. Rosemary can be dried and made into scented drawer sachets, used as in ingredient in homemade soap or turned into fragranced water that makes your hair shiny and soft.

Tips For Growing Rosemary Herb Plants

Make Your Garden a Fragrant Paradise With These Flowers

 

Smart gardening means doing our best to reduce our footprint in today’s pollution and improve the health of our family and our planet. This is why including herbs and vegetables in your garden is very important. But this doesn’t mean we must sacrifice any beauty and fragrance. In fact, perfumed plants can encourage beneficial insects to the garden and improve pollination. Gardens should delight all the senses. They should look beautiful, include tasty produce and smell gorgeous. So make sure you add fragrant plants in your garden. Here are some of the best scented flowers that will transform your backyard into a fragrant paradise…

 

Lavender

French lavender (Lavandula dentata) flowers from autumn right through until late spring, producing masses of perfumed flower spikes on a plant about one meter tall. Plant as a hedge for colour and fragrance for much of the year.

Jasmine

A fragrant evergreen climber, jasmine flowers profusely throughout spring and then produces batches of scented blooms on and off during the summer months.

Freesia

Bursting through the soil from late winter and flowering right throughout spring, leave a few freesias in the garden year after year. When left to naturalise, the sweetly scented flowers will keep blooming each spring, giving you a better display every year.

Tuberose

If you’re a gardener who loves scent, you’ll flip for tuberose. This bulb produces tall flower spikes with numerous tubular blooms and a fragrance that is rich, sultry and seductive.

Roses

Praised for their rich colors and luxurious shapes with a subtle aroma that varies among species, there are over 100 different species. Roses requires a lot of sunlight, frequent pruning and fertilization, but their beauty, complexity, and complexity, and intoxicating fragrance are extremely rewarding.

Daffodils

With all the easy grow traits of daffodils only much more fragrant, are ideal in pots where their perfume can be brought straight to your door. And they are just as popular indoors as cut flowers. Place a bunch in the bathroom for a constant supply of spring fragrance.

Syringa or Lilac

A cool climate favorite, lilac is a star-shaped reddish purple flower which appear in large dramatic clusters in early spring. The scent is spicy sweet,the essence of spring.

Philadelphus or Mock Orange

With the strong smell of orange blossom, hence their common name of mock orange, are frost hardy and easy to grow in sun or light shade. Flowering from late spring throughout early summer, the profusion of white blooms fills the garden with their glorious aroma.

Boronia

A fragrant Australian native, boronia produces its famed perfume not from the flowers but from the foliage. They prefer constantly moist, free-draining soil. Cut for use in a vase inside, they flower from spring through summer.

Stock or Matthiola incana

A brilliantly scented annual flowering from late winter through spring, stock -Mathiola incana  is an excellent cut flower which is best collected from your garden first thing in the morning. Varying in height from 15cm right up to around 90cm, there is a variety of stock for each situation. Sow seed in January and February in warm climates and from September to December in cooler areas for flowers next spring

Wisteria

With a delicate sweet perfume, wisterias help to create an outdoor scene that’s ideal for outdoor entertaining in spring. Deciduous, wisterias create a canopy of shade from the summer sun, while allowing the winter sun to penetrate and warm the area, giving you the best of every season.

Hyacinths

Great in pots or on a windowsill in a bulb vase, hyacinths come in a variety of colors, each has a slightly different fragrance, much like individual roses, so you’ll have to grow a few to find your favorite.

Make Your Garden a Fragrant Paradise With These Flowers