Lobelia siphilitica, Great Blue Lobelia

One of seven Lobelia species native to Ontario, these adapt to garden settings more easily than some of the more wetland dependent members of the genus.

An upright perennial with showy blue or, in the case of the genetic mix that these individuals came from, sometimes white flowers in late summer, they are a lovely addition to a wildflower meadow or to a more conventional perennial border.

The ones in my Ottawa backyard are growing in a spot in that receives a bit less sun than they would really like, but they are getting by. The ones in the dappled shade and higher moisture woods, growing among Wrinkleaf Goldenrod, seem to be a bit happier and more robust. The ones tucked into various nursery beds in the Perth gardens in the fall of 2021, most of which received sun through the morning and some shade in the afternoon, put on an incredible show this fall.

While they aren’t a species that tends to come immediately to mind for fall blooms, these really do compliment Asters and Goldenrods incredibly well, as you can see in some of today’s photos. Adding their own special splash of colour to the fall palette.

Even with all the nearby Aster and Goldenrod blooms, I got to watch Bumblebees industriously working away at prying apart the top and bottom petals to make enough room for them to reach the nectar at the bottom of the bloom.

At their most content in locations that receive a few hours of direct sun every day and in soil that is quite moist at least part of the time, I’d suggest a spot near a downspout or in a damp corner of the yard if you have one available. Damp meadows and shorelines are also ideal settings but they really do adapt incredibly well to average, or even occasionally dry, garden settings. They also generally return more readily each year than their, sometimes challenging to establish, Cardinal Flower relatives.

Not terribly prone to spreading in my experience, they will seed if they are happy with their setting, which works out well since they seem to have around a 3-to-5-year lifespan as individuals but can remain indefinitely as a patch if the seedlings are left to mature and renew the population.

Heights vary between 18” and 36”, with a spread of around 8” to 12” and their flowers appear in mid August and continue through mid September, which can make seed maturity a close thing in seasons with an early frost.

As an aside, I’ve heard people talk about smoking lobelia for medicinal purposes. I’ll stay out of the discussion on whether that is safe, but I will note that, rather than this Blue Lobelia, that practice is actually related to Lobelia inflata, which has recently had a, much needed, common name update to Inflated tTobacco. They are an annual species, with much smaller, pale blue flowers and the puffy seed pods that are the origin of their botanical name.