Gardening Column: Going forward with annuals — more favorites
Back to annuals after our week with vines — and a look at some of the less-used choices. Among my favorites are lobelia and nierembergia, both blue. There’s something about blue flowers that I really, really like; I’m not sure why. Perhaps it’s because they have a quality of the unexpected. Most flowers after all are yellow or pink or white, so when there’s something quite different, it’s a little more arresting, asking for attention. Orange flowers have the same effect, or so I think.
This year I’ve paired the bright blue of lobelia, which likes shade, with bright yellow tuberous begonias, also shade lovers, and shade is what I have in abundance in front of our entrance way. With white impatiens nearby, so far it’s holding up well. And it certainly isn’t boring.
Lobelias are actually herbs and were used medicinally here in the United States during the 19th century. Native Americans once smoked lobelia to treat asthma and the plant is sometimes called “Indian Tobacco.” It is also one of the 50 fundamental herbs in traditional Chinese medicine.
Lobelias are easy to grow and relatively carefree; they’re a member of the campanulaceae family. The flowers are tiny, delicate and numerous and the plant, although rarely exceeding 7 or 8 inches of growth, has a sort of sprawling habit, which might sound unattractive but isn’t. They enjoy cool weather and will continue to bloom through the first frost.
Lobelias come in shades of pink and red, as well as white, but the most popular species are the blues and purples. They have a number of uses, including beds, window boxes, containers and hanging baskets. They can also be used as groundcover.
Another very nice blue is nierembergia. a low-growing, sun-loving type, not fussy about soil, as long as the degree of acidity is close to the center range. Rarely exceeding 12 inches in height, and many varieties are shorter, their color is dark blue. They can be used, as lobelias can, in any variety of ways — beds, window boxes, pots and hanging baskets. Lara Dark Blue has proved especially popular, often used as an edging where something low and blue is wanted.
Do you know bacopa? It’s the plant with hundreds of tiny, white flowers, which never needs dead heading, also low growing, rarely exceeding 4 to 8 inches. Although they’re billed for part sun to sun, I’ve had a hard time growing them in half shade. But I keep trying because they’re so charming — the tiny flowers, white against the green, have always captured me. I tell you about them now, because this year for the first time I encountered them in a pale blue, in a variety named Calypso. Although the label describes the flowers as “lavender,” to me they seem to be a pale blue and I immediately broke my own rule, not to buy on impulse, and picked up several. I’ve put them in a window box on my balcony, which gets a sort of dappled shade with an occasional half-hour of sunshine. We’ll see.
I tend to cling to the notion that if you can’t give a plant what it really wants, if you give it more of something else, either food or water, the plant will accept your good intentions and bloom, not quite as nicely as if it had its heart’s desires, but well enough to satisfy. I may be disappointed this time, but to find these charming little flowers in blue — irresistible.
