LOBELIA v BACOPA

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I did a little experiment this year with my hanging baskets.  They hang in partial shade on an easterly facing wall and only get early morning sun in winter, if there is any early morning sun.  At the height of summer it might get several good hours until just past midday.  I have to plant things that tolerate partial shade such as lobelia, bacopa, and begonia.  Last year, 2011, I grew a mixture of plants in my hanging baskets but I noticed that by winter the lobelia had almost died off but the bacopa were still blooming.  Yet, lobelia were far more floriferous than bacopa during the summer. 

Oct 15 2012 - Bacopa now competing with lobelia
 
So, this year I planted my hanging baskets with nothing more than trailing lobelia and bacopa. All green and white with a pretty touch of blue that got in thanks to the nursery where I bought the young plants.  All summer long I have hardly noticed the bacopa at all and the lobelia dominated the baskets. But, the lobelia started to get straggly and brown so a couple of weeks or so ago I cut it back in an effort to invigorate it and trigger the production of new lobelia flowers. That has worked and there are lots of lobelia buds being produced, however, the bacopa are really in their stride now. It could well be that lobelia supresses the growth of bacopa, or that bacopa simply does better in autumn than lobelia. I think the only way to be sure would be for me to grow a hanging basket with just lobelia and a hanging basket with just bacopa and see how they go. Click on the images to enlarge. 



Oct 15 2012

Note how in the image below, taken Oct 31, 2011, the bacopa is dominating the lobelia which is dying back.  Note how it has taken over the centrally planted begonia. 


Oct 31, 2011 - Bacopa now dominating lobelia.
July 2011, a rather misshapen display with the begonia sticking up
like a sore thumb!  But you can see that lobelia dominates

This (below) is another basket from July 2011.  Note how the lobelia is far more floriferous than the bacopa.  Perhaps that is because the begonia suppressed the bacopa growth but I'm not convinced when I consider the above two images where the bacopa has taken over the begonia by October 2011. 

I think that lobelia is stronger than bacopa in the summer months but suffers more with the cold during autumn. 

July 2011 - lobelia dominating