Rosamund's decorative lobelia: plant characteristics and growing rules

Lobelia Rosamund is an annual plant with a spherical bush, reaching a height of up to 15 cm in height. The shoots are spreading, strewn with a reddish hue with flowers with a light central base. Inflorescences are about two centimeters in diameter.

Lobelia Rosamund - a very impressive in appearance dense cascading bush. It is grown in hanging planters and balcony drawers. This flower retains its decorative effect throughout the summer, until late autumn, until severe frost sets in.

Features of appearance and habitat

Lobelia Rosamund is an annual ampel species from the genus Kolokolchikovyh (read more about the most beautiful and unpretentious varieties of ampel lobelia here). The natural habitat of the plant is the territory of the subtropics. This delicate and beautiful flower is found almost all over the world. But South Africa is considered to be the real homeland of the Roselund lobelia, it is there that it grows in large quantities on moist rocky cliffs.

This type of lobelia looks like a spherical bush, the height of which reaches 15 centimeters. A distinctive feature of this plant is its strongly branched, flowering shoots, the length of which can reach 20 to 25 cm. Lobelia leaves are small, dark green in color.

Rosamund blooms very densely, her small raspberry-red flowers with a diameter of 1-2 cm completely euthanize all branches of the plant. Flowering lasts from June to October.

Landing Features

When is the best time to sow?

Lobelia begins to bloom only after 8-10 weeks after planting. Therefore, most often it is grown in seedlings. Seeds for seedlings begin to be sown from mid-February to late March.

Soil preparation

The soil for growing lobelia seedlings should be light, moisture-intensive and nutritious. The easiest way to buy in the store is a special substrate for seedlings of flowering plants. But you can stock up on land for planting yourself since the fall. To do this, take in equal shares:

• forest land;
• peat;
• humus;
• sand.

Sieve home mixture, like store substrate, must be sieved with a large sieveto remove excess debris, pebbles and clumps that are too large. Also, soil mixtures must be decontaminated before planting with a fungicide solution, microwave frying or freezing in a freezer.

Containers for planting seeds are best treated with boiling water.

Cultivation methods

This type of plant can be grown from seeds or using cuttings. Consider both of these methods in detail.

From seed

Pros:

• You can get a large number of young plants.
• Planting seedlings for growing lobelia at home can be done at any time.

Minuses:

• A fairly long and laborious process.
• Constant proper care of seedlings is required.

Step-by-step scheme:

1. Lobelia seeds are very small, dusty. To make the landing uniform - they are often mixed with sand.
2. In order for the soil substrate to have normal acidity for this plant, lime or dolomite flour is added to containers with previously prepared soil.
3. The most comfortable lobelia seedlings will be in a shallow tray, with mandatory drainage holes at the bottom.
4. After planting, the seeds can not be covered with earth, but only sprinkled from a spray bottle with a weak solution of potassium permanganate.
5. For primary irrigation, fungicide is added to the settled water at room temperature. Watering seedlings is necessary several times a day, so that the soil does not have time to dry out.
6. The container with seedlings is covered with a glass cap and placed in a warm, bright place.
7. Seedlings are aired daily.
8. If the plant seedlings grow slowly, it is fed several times with fertilizer with potassium sulfate.
9. A lobelia pick is carried out in heaps. At first, the earth is well moistened. Then, using a small plastic spoon or spatula, small bundles of seedlings are transplanted into containers with light soil.
10. Lobelia seedlings must be illuminated in the evening and on days when the street is cloudy and there is not enough sunlight. This will help the seedlings to be strong and have a good root system.
11. For greater thickening, pinching is indicated for young plants.
12. Lobelia transplantation from a seedling container to a permanent place of residence is also carried out in bundles. For the convenience of this procedure, you can take a narrow construction spatula. But when transplanting, you need to be very careful, trying not to damage the delicate roots of young plants.

Watch a video on how to properly plant lobelia:

Cuttings

Pros:

• The easiest and fastest way to multiply lobelia.
• No thorough care needed.

Minuses:

• Cuttings can only be obtained from an adult plant.
• The breeding time in this way is strictly defined.

Step-by-step scheme:

1. Cuttings for the reproduction of lobelia can be obtained from an already adult bush. Very often, such a bush is dug up in the fall with an earthen lump for wintering the plant in a spacious indoor container.
2. With proper care and timely pruning of faded stems of lobelia, the process of flowering can continue until mid-winter. Further, the plant is at rest for about 2 months. At this time, the flower is placed in a cool, well-lit place, and watering is significantly reduced.
3. By the end of February, young shoots begin to form at the base of the bush. At this point, you need to add a little fresh soil to the container with the flower, and direct the growth of new stems in opposite directions from the adult bush.
4. When small roots appear at the bottom of the new processes, new plants can be transplanted into separate pots.
5. Settled cuttings that have grown to 4-5 cm in height need to be pinched. This will allow you to get a large number of young plants from one adult bush, which in May can be transplanted into the open ground.

Outdoor cultivation

Lobelia Rosamund grows well both at home and in the open ground.

To grow plants in an open area, it is necessary to germinate in advance and prepare seedlings for planting.

Seedling hardening

The tempering of lobelia seedlings is as follows:

• On the first day, young growth cannot be immediately placed in the sun or wind. You need to choose a quiet, calm day and a shady place.
• The next day, seedlings can be placed in partial shade.
• And only starting from the third day, young seedlings can be planted for a couple of hours in the sun.

Landing pattern

If you want to grow a solid living carpet from lobelia, then the distance between the seedlings should be 10-15 cm. To grow individual bushes, the distance between young plants should be about 25 cm.

Priming

Lobelia loves friable and light soil, good moisture permeation. But it is important not to overdo it with the addition of humus - this can adversely affect the flowering of the plant.

Fertilizer

Lobelia grown in open ground should be fed only 2-3 times per season. For this, complex mineral compositions with nitrogen, phosphorus and calcium are used. The first feeding should be carried out 10-14 days after planting. The next feeding should occur at the time of flowering. Here you can use liquid fertilizers for flowering plants.

Lobelia do not really like organic fertilizers, so you need to use them either in very small quantities or completely exclude them from fertilizing.

Winter preparation

Lobelia is very thermophilic and will not withstand the harsh conditions of our winter. To extend the life of the plant - it needs to be dug with a lump even before frost and transplanted into a pot. Rosamund houses can be placed on the sunny windowsill. In the apartment, it will bloom a couple more months.

Home Care

• Temperature. This flower loves moderate temperature. Do not place it near hot batteries or radiators.
• Watering. Lobelia needs high humidity, so watering should be regular, but moderate.

  To lobelia, one can never use foliar watering - this will provoke plant diseases.

• Lighting. Lobelia lighting prefers diffuse, so it must be protected from direct sunlight.
• Pruning. Rosamund is an annual plant, therefore, after the first flowering, its shoots must be shortened by 5-7 cm. This will give impetus to the formation of new stems and flowering will go in the second round.
• Top dressing. In order for the plant to bloom for a long time and plentifully, he needs regular top dressing. It is best to use ready-made complex fertilizer. Which is suitable for all flowering plants. But in order to avoid problems, you should clearly follow the instructions.
• Pot selection. The capacity for ampel lobelia should be low. A wide cache-pot is ideal for this. The material for the pot should also be considered:
  1. Fragile plastic can not withstand high temperatures when keeping a flower on an open balcony.
  2. In a ceramic pot, water stagnation is often observed, which is very detrimental to the root system of the plant.
  3. When using a clay pot, it is necessary to provide for the drainage of excess water and provide a thick drainage layer for ventilation. For example, vermiculite or hydrogel can be added to the pot.

Conclusion

Rosamund is a delicate and elegant flower that blooms profusely and almost continuously. If she is provided with the correct growing conditions and competently - lobelia will thank you with repeated bright flowering throughout the garden season!