Lobelia siphilitica Great Blue Lobelia Seed and Potted Plants
(low-Bee-lee-uh  sih-fih-LIH-tih-kuh)

Native Wildflower Seeds and Potted Plants

Easyliving Native Perennial Wildflowers Native Wild Flower Seeds and Plants
for Home Landscaping and Prairie Restoration john@easywildflowers.com

Lobelia siphilitica Great Blue Lobelia Picture by cj,  Blue Lobelia flower with Fritillary Butterfly

Lobelia siphilitica Great Blue Lobelia potted plants are available  $5.00 each plus Boxing/Shipping. 
Shipping costs are determined by your zip code and number of plants
email with your zip code and number of plants for shipping charges on potted plants.   

For our other native wildflowers visit Wildflower Seed and Potted Plant Price List

 to order copy and mail the order form
or 
email questions, comments, and orders to john@easywildflowers.com  

Seed shipping chart at bottom of page
Lobelia siphilitica, Great Blue Lobelia, has deep blue flowers crowded along the upper section of 2 to 3 feet tall spikes and makes an impressive show in the perennial garden where it attracts hummingbirds.  Great Blue Lobelia plants were used medicinally by native Americans.  Blue Lobelia plants prefer average to moist rich soil in full sun and make a striking contrast in color when planted near red Cardinal Flower.  Blue Lobelia and Cardinal Flower can be grown in large pots partially submerged in a water garden.  Lobelia siphiliticata Blue Lobelia seeds are very small and will germinate without pretreatment.

Lobelia siphilitica Great Blue Lobelia is a richly colored native wild flower that grows wild in prairies, open woods, wet meadows, and moist soil along ponds and stream banks over most of the Midwest and Eastern US.   Campanulaceae (Bellflower Family)

The map below shows areas where native Lobelia siphilitica Blue Lobelia plants grow wild but can be planted and will grow over a much wider area than shown.  USDA plant hardiness zones 2 to 9.

Use the chart below for shipping charges on Lobelia siphilitica Great Blue Lobelia flower seeds,
to order copy and mail the order form
or
email questions, comments and orders to john@easywildflowers.com 

email with your zip code and number of plants for shipping charges and availability on potted plants

We accept payment by check, money order, and through Paypal

The minimum seed order amount is $10, this can be a combination of different seeds.
 

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Easyliving Wildflowers
PO Box  522
Willow Springs,  MO.  65793
USA
Phone 417-469-2611 

We accept payment by check or money order and through PayPal

e-mail questions, comments, and orders to  john@easywildflowers.com

Lobelia siphilitica Great Blue Lobelia Plant distribution map complements of USDA, NRCS. 2001. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.1
  (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Uses
Ethnobotanic: The Iroquois used the plant as a cough medicine. The Meskwaki ground up the roots of this plant and used it as an anti-divorce remedy. The mashed roots were secretly put into some common dish, which was eaten by both husband and wife. The Cherokee used a cold infusion of the roots of great blue lobelia and cardinal flower to treat nosebleed. A poultice of the crushed leaves of the plant was used for headache and a warm leaf infusion was good for colds.
Wildlife: Hummingbirds are attracted to the nectar.
Status
Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural Resources for this plant’s current status, such as, state noxious status and wetland indicator values.
Description
General: Bellflower Family (Campanulaceae). This herbaceous perennial is 5 to 15 dm high with frequently branched, erect stems. The alternate leaves are toothed and narrowly oblong to elliptic to lanceolate or oblanceolate. The leaves are 8-12 cm and narrow to a sessile base. The irregular, two-lipped flowers are blue. They appear in long terminal racemes and are from 15-33 mm long. The corolla has a slit on each side near the base. The seeds come in a two-celled, many-seeded capsules opening at the top. The capsules have an ear-lobed or auriculate base.
Distribution
This plant is found in swamps and wet ground from Maine to Manitoba and Colorado, south to North Carolina and Texas. For current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page for this species on the PLANTS Web site.
Establishment
General: Great blue lobelia is comparatively easy to grow. The capsules can be collected in autumn, usually October. The stalks are cut below the capsules, and placed upside down in a per sack. Once, home, the bag is opened so that the capsules are exposed to the air for a few days. Shake the bag to release the seeds. The capsules that have remaining seeds can be retrieved and crushed with a rolling pin and seeds picked from the litter. The seeds can then be planted right away.
Propagation by seeds: The seeds will germinate without cold stratification, but they need light, so sow the seeds in a flat with a damp fine grade peat lite mix. Keep the flats moist and under lights or in a greenhouse. They should green up in a few weeks. Transplant them in 4-6 weeks into individual pots such as 70 cell plug trays, use the same potting mix and keep fertilizing. The seedlings are tiny at first, so fertilize them every other week with a liquid fertilizer. After another 4 weeks they can be put out in the garden or transplanted into larger pots of 4 to 6 inch diameter. Plant the plants in an outdoor spot that is in full sun or very light shade and never dries completely. Space the plants 8 to 12 inches apart. Add plenty of peat moss when planting and mulch well to keep the soil cool and moist. Protect the plants from deer. Great blue lobelia will usually bloom in the first year. Allow the plants to self-sow.
Hugh Wilson
Vascular Plant Image Gallery
@ Texas A and M University
They are heavy feeders, so compost or apply granular fertilizer when they begin growth.
Propagation by cuttings: Take two node stem cuttings (4-6 inches) before the flowers open and remove the lower leaf and half the upper leaf. Treat the cutting with hormodin 2 or root-tone and place the cuttings in a sand and perlite medium, cover lightly, water, and keeping the medium moist. Roots will form in 2-3 weeks, but the cuttings need to force a good new crown from the lower node to successfully over-winter.
Management
When well established, clumps of this plant can be divided in the fall or spring by separating the basal offshoots from the mother plant and replanting these divisions and watering them immediately.
Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)
Seeds and plants of selected Lobelia siphilitica are available from many nurseries. It is best to plant species from your local area, adapted to the specific site conditions where the plants are to be grown. Contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly Soil Conservation Service) office for more information. Look in the phone book under ”United States Government.” The Natural Resources Conservation Service will be listed under the subheading “Department of Agriculture.”
References
Banks, W.H. 1953. Ethnobotany of the Cherokee Indians. Masters Thesis, University of Tennessee.
Gleason, H.A. and A. Cronquist 1991. Manual of vascular plants of Northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. Second Edition. The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York.
Herrick, J.W. 1995. Iroquois medical botany. Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, New York.
Moerman, D.E. 1998. Native American ethnobotany. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon.
Phillips, H.R. 1985. Growing and propagating wild flowers. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Smith, H.H. 1928. Ethnobotany of the Meskwaki. Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee 4(2):175-326.

The Iroquois used Lobelia siphilitica Great Blue Lobelia plant as a cough medicine.  The Meskwaki ground up the roots of Blue Lobelia and used it as an anti-divorce remedy.  The mashed roots were secretly put into some common dish, which was eaten by both husband and wife.  The Cherokee used a cold infusion of the roots of great blue lobelia and cardinal flower to treat nosebleed.  A poultice of the crushed leaves of the plant was used for headache and a warm leaf infusion was good for colds.

Wildlife: Hummingbirds are attracted to Lobelia siphilitica Great Blue Lobelia flower nectar.

General: Bellflower Family (Campanulaceae).  Lobelia siphilitica Great Blue Lobelia is a herbaceous perennial 5 to 15 dm high with frequently branched, erect stems.  The alternate leaves are toothed and narrowly oblong to elliptic to lanceolate or oblanceolate.  Blue Lobelia leaves are 8-12 cm and narrow to a sessile base.  The irregular, two-lipped flowers are blue.  They appear in long terminal racemes and are from 15-33 mm long.  The corolla has a slit on each side near the base.  Great Blue Lobelia seeds come in a two-celled, many-seeded capsules opening at the top.  The capsules have an ear-lobed or auriculate base. 

Lobelia siphilitica Great Blue Lobelia plants are found in swamps and wet ground from Maine to Manitoba and Colorado, south to North Carolina and Texas.  For current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page for this species on the PLANTS Web site.

Great blue lobelia is comparatively easy to grow.  The seed capsules can be collected in autumn, usually October.  The stalks are cut below the capsules, and placed upside down in a per sack.  Once, home, the bag is opened so that the capsules are exposed to the air for a few days.  Shake the bag to release the seeds.  The capsules that have remaining seeds can be retrieved and crushed with a rolling pin and seeds picked from the litter.  The seeds can then be planted right away.

Lobelia siphilitica Great Blue Lobelia Propagation by seeds: The seeds will germinate without cold stratification, but they need light, so sow the seeds in a flat with a damp fine grade peat lite mix.  Keep the flats moist and under lights or in a greenhouse.  They should green up in a few weeks.  Transplant them in 4-6 weeks into individual pots such as 70 cell plug trays, use the same potting mix and keep fertilizing.  The seedlings are tiny at first, so fertilize them every other week with a liquid fertilizer.  After another 4 weeks they can be put out in the garden or transplanted into larger pots of 4 to 6 inch diameter.  Plant the plants in an outdoor spot that is in full sun or very light shade and never dries completely.  Space the plants 8 to 12 inches apart.  Add plenty of peat moss when planting and mulch well to keep the soil cool and moist.  Protect the plants from deer.  Great blue lobelia will usually bloom in the first year.  Allow the plants to self-sow.  They are heavy feeders, so compost or apply granular fertilizer when they begin growth.

Lobelia siphilitica Great Blue Lobelia Propagation by cuttings: Take two node stem cuttings (4-6 inches) before the flowers open and remove the lower leaf and half the upper leaf.  Treat the cutting with hormodin 2 or root-tone and place the cuttings in a sand and perlite medium, cover lightly, water, and keeping the medium moist.  Roots will form in 2-3 weeks, but the cuttings need to force a good new crown from the lower node to successfully over-winter.

When well established, clumps of Lobelia siphilitica Great Blue Lobelia can be divided in the fall or spring by separating the basal offshoots from the mother plant and replanting these divisions and watering them immediately.