Bring some colour to hanging baskets with lobelias

Gardeners and homeowners looking to bring some colour to their hanging baskets and containers have been pointed in the direction of lobelias.

Norman Winter writes in the Seattle Times that the heat tolerance of lobelias is part of the reason why they are currently proving popular, meaning that they bloom all of the way through from spring to the summer.

Mr Winter highlights that a putting lobelias in a decent-sized pot with holes in it for drainage and filled with lightweight soil will help garner the best results.

He recommended: "Use these blue lobelias in containers and hanging baskets, and youll find them attracting their fair share of butterflies.

"While many gardeners like the rare shades of blue provided by the lobelia in the border as an edging type plant, I think they are simply unbeatable in a container mixed with other flowers like argyranthemum, calibrachoa, petunias and verbena."

Furthermore, Mr Winter advised that they will require lots of watering when the sun begins to appear more regularly, but this will help ensure the best bloom is witnessed.

Today, lobelia is used a treatment to help support asthma and food poisoning, while it is also noted as a physical relaxant and a nerve depressant.