Welcome another lovely color to the Starship family of shade- and wind-tolerant, compact, long-blooming lobelias. Deep Rose combines nearly black stems with big, wide-open, butterfly-shaped blooms of dark pink. The effect is so eye-catching over a long, late season of bloom.
Deep Rose is, like its sister Scarlet, a hummingbird magnet. Beginning its bloom in midsummer and continuing right into mid-fall in most climates, it brings you a longer season of winged visitors, which is a real boon in gardens where "summer" can go through October.
Also, Starship Deep Rose is simply more floriferous than most others, with a columnar habit that packs a lot of color into very little garden space. Although Starship Scarlet is 20 to 24 inches high in bloom, it's seldom more than 8 inches wide. Very effective in small gardens and tight spaces.
You can count on this lobelia to thrive in moist soil, but it also tolerates dry conditions, especially after it's had a season or two to establish in the garden. (Wet soil it cannot survive in, however.) A good choice for containers, its straight up-and-down habit complements all the mounding and trailing varieties out there today. And the combination of black and dark pink is so unusual, it makes a striking stand-alone.
Starship Deep Rose is easy to grow from our pelleted seed. Sow indoors 6-8 weeks before planting out, and do not plant out until nighttime temperatures are reliably 60 degrees F or warmer. This Lobelia starts later than many, but finishes long past others, too. Enjoy its beauty for years in your sunny to lightly shaded garden and containers.
