BLUE LOBELIA. 



Lobelia erinus. 



PLANT so well known as the little 

 blue lobelia may appear capable of 

 telling its own story, but it is not 

 so; and there is so much in the 

 story that we must be business- 

 like, and avoid sentiment and 

 gossiping. It represents a pretty 

 group of dwarf-growing, wiry- 

 habited, free-flowering plants, the 

 flowers of which are mostly of 

 some shade of blue, but occasionally 

 white, rosy purple, and pucy pink. 

 They are all annuals or perennials, 

 according to the treatment they 

 receive and the kind of season 

 they have passed through. In a 

 hot dry summer they produce an 

 abundance of seed, and become ex- 

 hausted. In this case the old 

 plants are likely to die during the winter, however much 

 care may be taken of them. After a wet cool summer 

 the old plants are likely to survive the winter, if potted 

 and housed sufficiently early in the autumn. 



In the cultivation of these dwarf lobelias, the saving 



