Queen Victoria plant

[ophelia]

Does anyone know offhand if your regular garden variety Queen Victoria pond plant can winter outside? I bought mine at Canadian Tire as an experiment but have since lost the ID and info card that came with it.

Actually, it was a very nice plant. I'd like to keep it going but would prefer to leave it out if possible.

Thanks!

[The Pond Boy]

Hi,

If I am right, the original name is Lobelia. There are 2 different Lobelias: the Lobelia Cardinalis and the Lobelia Dortmanna.
The hardiness zones are 4-8. The Lobelia Carnalis is a full sun to light shade plant. The soil should be fertile, slightly acidic and moist and it should be mulched in the winter, great for around the pond, stream or waterfall. The Lodelia Dormanna prefers a wet, loamy pond mix , in up to 4" of water.
Thanks,

The Pond Boy,
Greg

[CMW]

Your Queen Victoria is indeed Lobelia as suggested by The Pond Boy.  I am not familiar with that particular one but did find the following on a Cnd site.  It suggests that although lobelia are hardy to zone 3 (Ottawa is generally the lower end of five - depending on any specific micro-climate you may have on your site) which should be good for Ottawa area.  However, it cautions that the Queen Victoria variant is not as hardy.  Unfortunately it does not say how much less hardy.  If you bought it at Canadian Tire and they were selling it in the perennial section then you are probably pretty safe.  We have been doing some fairly extensive landscaping this year and bought many small perennials from CT - they are quite good about their plants.

I looked for more details in some of my books and though I did not come up with any more specific information on the hardiness zone I did come across repeated referrences that the lobelia are a relatively short-lived perennial which tends to self-sow.  This self-sowing tendency works in your favour for keeping it around your pond.  I am pretty sure I have at least one lobelia in one of my front beds and I have no intention of bringing it in.  If however you are concerned I would suggest taking a look at your plant and seeing if there is a section you can bring in to a more sheltered location while leaving the bulk to try the winter. 

My general take is that you will be ok, esp if you give is some mulch to help it along.

Here is the piece from the Cnd site:
The Cardinal Flower is a very hardy (to zone 3), if shorty-lived, native perennial. Chief attributes are a columnar habit requiring no staking, late summer/fall blooming when most other perennials show only greenery, primary red blooms that are wildly attractive to hummingbirds, shade-tolerance and the ability to self-seed if the conditions are favourable. Watch goldfinches deftly perch on the stem and eat the tiny seeds from the ripe pods.

There exist seed strains sold under names such as Lobelia x speciosa 'Fan Series Mixed.' These result from crosses between L. cardinalis. L. siphilitica and L. fulgens and their hardiness may vary between individuals. Treat them as annuals or biennals; disappointment is less likely. In their favour, the blooms are quite a bit larger than the L. cardinalis species form, grow easily and come in an array of very bold colours in the range of hot pink, rich fuschia purple and firetruck red.

Another variety features reddish-foliage: 'Queen Victoria' is frequently seen in the nursery trade, but is noticeably less vigorous and hardy than the species; furthermore, visually, the flower colour doesn't appear to glow as much against the dull burgundy setting.

The gardener should keep in mind that the Cardinal Flowers likes to grow streamside and requires much moisture. Don't allow to dry, water generously!

[Vizerdrix]

When we first moved into our house, I went crazy and got all kinds of plants for the garden; some did well, some didn't.  To my chagrin, the Lobellias didn't make it through the winter.  I believe they were the Queen Vic ones (stems, leaves, flowers all red).  I have seen the regular variety (green stems and leaves) at the Governor General's residence, so I assume those are fine.

If you are in doubt, you can try keeping the roots in a moist medium in a cold place (an unheated basement room, or lightly heated garage does well) over the winter...

[ophelia]

Mine is the red/burgundy variety, leaves, stem flowers all red. Since it was not overly expensive I think I'll try and leave it out. If it's toast in the spring I'll buy another although I'm intrigued about the suggestion of putting it down in the cold cellar with the goldfish. Can it survive down there with with a 60watt incandescent lightbulb for 8 hrs a day? That's all the fish get.

[Vizerdrix]

I'm intrigued about the suggestion of putting it down in the cold cellar with the goldfish. Can it survive down there with with a 60watt incandescent lightbulb for 8 hrs a day? That's all the fish get.

Being a perenial, it will actually need it's dormant period in the cold, so I don't think that would work.  The warmest I would keep it at for the winter is maybe around 10 Celsius, and even then that's pushing it a bit...  So unless your basement is that cold...

[kennyman]

The hardiness rating of 3 is a USDA zone for sure. No way that is an agri-can zone. It is pretty rare to find the spp. naturally growing this far north but it is easy to find in the wetlands of the Carolinian Forest zone which stops around Perborough.