The most common blue-flowered lobelia in the Southeast, downy lobelia earns its common name from the fine fuzz that covers the undersides of its alternate, toothed leaves. Growing three to four feet tall, it sends up its flower spikes in late summer and carries them through mid-fall, each bloom a cool blue with a white to pink center marked by a single white stripe.

It thrives across a wide hardiness range, from zone 4 to zone 9, and tolerates the difficult conditions of wet or poorly drained ground that other perennials avoid. Bees are its primary pollinators. The plant is deer resistant, which makes it useful in woodland gardens and naturalized areas where browsing pressure is constant. Snails and slugs will go after the foliage in damp conditions, so some vigilance there is worthwhile.