Lobelia and trailing verbena spacing

[PureBlackVoid]

I am terrible at spacing plants, so I always end up with either huge gaps and lonely looking plants or things growing on top of each other (hence the bare patch I am trying to fill)

I’ve planted 6 lobelias and 6 trailing verbenas, in a patch about 1mx0.5m in size, maybe slightly larger. I’ve spaced them roughly based on online recommendations, 10cm between lobelias and 30cm between verbenas. Is this likely to provide a nice full coverage over summer or should I get more?

It’s a bit early for these bedding plants to be outside, cover them up if it’s going to be frosty.

@Beebumble2 depends where you are, our night time temperatures are not dipping below 5C anymore (and haven’t gone below freezing for 3 weeks) which I think is fine even for tender annuals. Obviously I’m not rushing to put coleus out, but many annuals would be fine.

@PureBlackVoid are you planting these trailing plants in the ground or in a large container? I’m asking because I always think of trailing plants as things that need to be elevated from the ground so they can cascade down. I love lobelias, I will be sticking them in lots of my pots this summer but I have never thought of putting them in borders.

Back to your question - I would halve the spacing between your plants, so they eventually overlap. So 5cm for lobelias and 15cm for verbenas.

There are good YouTube videos on annual planting, look up Garden Answer and the Lawrence family farm, both give informative tutorials.

Also remember to feed them often with seaweed/tomato feed/slow release granules so they grow big and bushy.