{"id":45,"date":"2007-02-20T14:02:40","date_gmt":"2007-02-20T22:02:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/garden\/?p=45"},"modified":"2015-11-24T07:33:26","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T15:33:26","slug":"delphinium-stand-ins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/delphinium-stand-ins\/","title":{"rendered":"Delphinium Stand-Ins"},"content":{"rendered":"

DELPHINIUM STAND-INS
\n<\/font><\/font><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>If you live in a place with short unpredictable springs and hot sticky summers, you probably have issues with delphiniums.\u00a0 You can buy them, you can plant them, but you can’t expect them to give you joy forever.\u00a0 In fact, you frequently can’t expect them to perform beyond the first season.\u00a0 This is frustrating for delphinium lovers, especially those without the funds or inclination to buy new delphiniums every year.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The delphinium dilemma came up recently in an online discussion about historic plants.\u00a0 The question was, “What plants make good delphinium replacements in historic gardens?”\u009d\u00a0 The answers from various experts were enlightening and made me think further on the topic.\u00a0 While there is nothing quite like a well-grown delphinium, there are some acceptable, less finicky substitutes. <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The most frequently mentioned stand-in is a relative, Consolida ajacis or Consolida ambigua, commonly known as larkspur or annual delphinium.\u00a0 Like delphinium, larkspur is tall, with stalks of outward-facing blossoms in shades of blue, gray-blue, blue-purple, white and pink.\u00a0 The double flowered varieties like Giant Imperial, Ocean Mix, Parisian Pink, Earl Gray and Sublime Mixed look the most like their perennial relatives.\u00a0 Single-flowered varieties are lovely in their own right, and may provide the necessary height and color, but the individual flowers are not as closely packed as those on delphinium stalks and may have the distinctive spurs that inspired the plant’s common name.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Larkspur, which has been cultivated in the United States since Colonial times, is especially appropriate for historically authentic planting schemes.\u00a0 In her book, Restoring<\/em> American Gardens<\/em>, Denise Wyles Adams includes Consolida ajacis on her list of “All-American Ornamental Plants”\u009d because the species has been in constant cultivation all over the country since 1750.\u00a0 While it is technically an annual, a happy larkspur reseeds itself prolifically, making it seem like a perennial.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Another tall flowering plant that might make an acceptable delphinium substitute is aconitum or monkshood.\u00a0 Monkshood, a poisonous plant, is perennial and features flowers in shades of blue, blue-purple and pink.\u00a0 The hooded blossoms that give the genus its common name differ in shape from delphinium flowers, but from even a short distance the look is similar.\u00a0 A European immigrant, monkshood has been used in American gardens since Colonial days, and has the added bonus of partial shade tolerance.\u00a0 Try Aconitum carmichaelii Blue Bishop.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You might also consider some of the new hybrid verbascum.\u00a0 Some of the taller varieties of this familiar plant, commonly known as mullein, grow to be three feet tall–equal in size to some delphiniums.\u00a0 While there is no true blue verbascum, there are tall purple-flowered varieties like Verbascum phoeniceum Violette.\u00a0 Flush of White and Snow Maiden are tall white-flowered forms and Southern Charm blooms in shades of pink.\u00a0 Verbascum are unfussy, sun loving perennials<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It takes a little out-of-the-box thinking, but you could also use good old gladiolus as a delphinium stand-in.\u00a0 Glads also have densely packed flowers on tall stalks.\u00a0 Like verbascum, gladioli flowers do not come in true blue, but varieties like Blues, Violetta and Violet Queen supply blue-purple and purple shades.\u00a0 There are numerous pinks, not to mention good white-flowered varieties like White Friendship and White Goddess.\u00a0 <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Nineteenth century hybridizing efforts produced the full-flowered glads that we enjoy in gardens today.\u00a0 If your old house was built in the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries, gladioli, planted in clumps of three, five or seven might just fill the delphinium bill. <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Gladioli grow from corms, and are not usually hardy in cold winter areas.\u00a0 The corms can be lifted in the fall and stored until spring, or purchased anew every year.\u00a0 Even if you choose the latter option, they are still cheaper than an annual purchase of the same number of delphinium plants.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Find larkspur and aconitum at Select Seeds, 180 Stickney Hill Rd, Union, CT 06076, (800)-684-0395, www.selectseeds.com<\/font><\/a> (Free Catalog).\u00a0 Larkspur, aconitum and verbascum are also available from Thompson & Morgan, 220 Faraday Avenue, Jackson, NJ 08527, (800) 274-7333 or www.thompsonandmorgan.com<\/a> (Free Catalog).\u00a0 Verbascum plants are available from Bluestone Perennials, 7211 Middle Ridge Rd., Madison, OH 44057, (800) 852-5243 or www.bluestoneperennials.com<\/a> (Free catalog).\u00a0 Gladioli can be purchased from Old House Gardens, 536 Third St., Ann Arbor, MI 48103, (734) 995-1486, <\/font><\/font>www.oldhousegardens.com<\/font><\/a> (Catalog $2.00); or Brent and Becky’s Bulbs, 7900 Daffodil Lane, Gloucester, VA 23061, (877) 661-2852, <\/font>www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com<\/font><\/a> (Free Catalog).\u00a0 Aconitum plants are available from White Flower Farm,\u00a0 PO Box 50, Litchfield, CT 06759, (800) 503-9624, <\/font>www.whiteflowerfarm.com<\/font><\/a> (aconitum is not featured in the catalog, but is available through the website).<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DELPHINIUM STAND-INS \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 If you live in a place with short unpredictable springs and hot sticky summers, you probably have issues with delphiniums.\u00a0 You can buy them, you can plant them, but you can’t expect them to give you joy forever.\u00a0 In fact, you frequently can’t expect them to perform beyond the first season.\u00a0 This … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interest","category-summer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1733,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45\/revisions\/1733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}