PlantFiles: Edging Lobelia, Annual Lobelia
Lobelia 'Techno Heat Light Blue'

This plant looks like the more familiar edging lobelia, Lobelia erinus, but "on steroids". It has larger flowers, larger leaves, and grows larger in height and width. But the main attribute is that it is more heat resistant. Mine survive all summer in a warm part of the Bay Area, and just bloom and bloom and bloom. They are also available in other blue shades. It is good in pots or in borders, where it mixes well and weaves into other plants. I'm not sure how it is propagated; I imagine it is grown from cuttings,

I found this at my local nursery last spring (2010) in one of those little .89 cent pots. I bought two of them to use as fillers in a larger pot of other annuals. If I had known how nice they'd look as fillers in a pot and how long they'd last I would have bought more. I went back to get more a month later and never could find any. I'll make sure to look for them again this year. That one small little pot filled in beautifully (I posted some pictures) actually took over the pot eventually when the other early spring annuals had died out. I bought a third in a darker shade of purple which you can also see in the picture, not sure what kind it was, but it didn't fill in as much or last as long as the light blue Techno did. Also did very well in full sun and didn't require to be watered as often. Constant blooms from March through about July when the heavier rains finally did them in.