The Plant Store is now closed for 2023 and will re-open for sales in May of 2024

  • Please see the Using the Plant Library  page  for some tips on how to make the most of the information here to select species for creating a healthy native plant community suited to the conditions of your site.

Lobelia inflata, Indian tobacco

Lobelia inflata 

Indian tobacco

  • Annual or Biennial
  • Grows in full sun to part shade.
  • Likes moisture but gets along just fine in dry settings
  • 18" to 24" tall and wide
  • Garden, container, shoreline, meadow and open woodland settings

A small flowered member of the Lobelia family, these are from wild gathered seeds in Perth and Ottawa. They are impressivly adaptable, preferring a part sun setting with rich soil and plenty of moisture but also getting along well in dry, part shade and high moisture, full sun settings in a variety of soil types.

They are inclined to bloom in the first year, as annuals, in ideal settings and in the second year, as biennials, in more challenging areas. 

A lovely species for newly planted areas where the perennials are not yet established or for containers or other spaces where disturbance opens spaces in the ecosystem for these to pop up and fill in. 


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Species that were not sown / aren't being sown for 2023 are marked with an * 
Species that are native to this continent, but not historically native to Ontario are marked with a ~ 
While it rarely comes up, I do reserve the right to limit plant quantities, mostly to help ensure that as many native plant gardens as possible become a reality
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