Answering Lisianthus Questions

by Lisa Mason Ziegler | July 6, 2021

Did you know that lisianthus is a cool-season hardy annual? Also called a Cool Flower.
She is a stand-alone in the Cool Flower lineup because she blooms in summer, unlike the rest of the CF that typically bloom in spring.
For my first 10 years of farming, I planted and treated lisianthus like a warm-season tender annual and they did ok. Some years they weren’t very tall, they just kind of survived instead of thriving.
And THEN I learned while drinking a cup of coffee in a hallway at a cut flower conference in Oklahoma that lisianthus survives winter in many zones. That meant I could fall and very early spring plant: I was blown away and thrilled.
Rabbit hole: when you plant a plant in its preferred conditions they are literally almost self-sufficient. I knew this tidbit from my Cool Flowers experiences. To think that this flower that I had been fretting over for years with puny results was now moving to the Cool Flowers group I couldn’t wait for the results! And she did not disappoint.
This changed my lisianthus life. Planting to allow the plants to become established during cool weather and build such great roots sent them to producing more stems and sometimes twice as tall! Plus their disease resistance also ramped up.
Lizzie now thrives instead of just surviving!
Lisianthus are quite winter hardy— it’s not the cold that takes them out, it’s the wet feet that sends them to their end.
Fall planting brought blooms one-to-two weeks earlier than my very early spring plantings.
Planting at these times also allowed me to plant 285 size plants directly in the field.
How’s your Lizzie love coming?
My Facebook post above generated so many questions across our social media platforms I thought a video was a great way to answer the questions: