Compact and popular, Lobelia erinus (Trailing Lobelia) is a tender perennial, usually grown as an annual, boasting masses of brightly coloured flowers adorned with white or yellow throats from spring to the first frosts. Ideal for tubs and containers, hanging baskets.
Summer bedding plants are to be planted after frost at the end of May or in June.
Most bedding plants are annual, which means they only grow and flower for one year. They are discarded at the end of the season, and the following year new plants will be grown. This gives you the freedom to change your bedding displays every year for a different visual effect.
To pot up your seedlings and plant plugs, first water the plants well. Lift them out of the soil, handling them by the leaves rather than the stems. If you damage a leaf, it will grow back. But if you damage the stem, you’ll lose the plant.
Plant them into their new pot to the same depth as before, then firm down the compost and use a liquid feed to water them in.
In late spring or early summer when all risk of frost is passed, plant out your new bedding plants to their final positions in your garden.