give it up for Lobelia tupa

Any description of Lobelia tupa is bound to contain words like “huge,” “robust,” “monumental,” and it’s all true. Which would seemingly indicate it’s not a perennial for a small garden like mine. Except this mega-perennial here at the Oregon Coast is as useful in my little garden as a choice deciduous shrub. It’s quick to leaf out with broad, slug-proof, celadon-colored leaves and begins throwing flower spikes in early July. As of mid-September, there’s still a quarter of the flowers on the 20+ spikes yet to open. Hummingbirds have been parking on nearby Stipa gigantea stems all summer to take a breather between sips, which is cute as heck.

Formerly just another entry on the list of plants I’ve always wanted to grow but couldn’t in my hotter, drier zone 10 garden, here it’s become an invaluable full-season anchor for the ebb and flow of the surrounding garden. Thrives in good soil, sun, and apparently lots of winter rain, but seems to tolerate the drier conditions of summer too. Loves the coast, where I’ve always seen the happiest specimens — not sure how this Chilean would handle extreme inland heat. (For that kind of heat I’d experiment with growing Erythrina x bidwillii for a similar effect, also hardy to zone 7.).

This four-year-old clump in full bloom is roughly 7X5 feet. I don’t begrudge it that amount of space but would prefer not to hand over any more and may have to tackle dividing the clump in another year or so. Hardy to zone 7. More soon, AGO