Delphiniums

It’s early summer and delphiniums, a favorite of the perennial garden, are in full bloom. I’ve always loved them for their beautiful range of colours and their attractiveness to my beloved hummingbirds. Once the delphiniums open, I rarely see the hummers at my feeders but I get to watch them flying and drinking among the flowers in the evenings. I would grow them for that reason alone but they also add such great colour and shape to the garden. They love cool weather and tolerate light frosts which makes them ideal for our short Alberta summers. I grow four different cultivars in many colors because they are such a great plant. Here’s a rundown of some of my favorites to grow.

The classic variety in many gardens is Delphinium cultorum. This includes the Pacific Giants series that comes in a range of pretty colors with contrasting white or dark bees. The ‘bee’ is the small center flower of a delphinium bloom. They can get quite tall, reaching 5 or 6 feet with blooms which makes them a bit of a problem anytime the wind picks up. There’s nothing more discouraging than having your flower-heavy stems toppled by a thunderstorm! If you can’t give them protection from the wind, staking the blooms is a good idea so you don’t lose them to the weather. In my garden I have several colours of D.cultorum, my favorite being the Triton series light blue. It’s the perfect sky blue with a contrasting white bee, doesn’t get too tall and is always the earliest delph to bloom in my garden. I started 50 plants from seed 4 years ago and they've given me hundreds of stems since.

A much less common variety is Delphinium Belladonna. I love the flowers on this plant for their airy, dainty look. I use it in wedding work and for drying as it holds it’s colors better than any other delphinium I’ve tried. It’s shorter than D. cultorum as well, about 4 ft tall, but does still benefit from staking in the garden. I have the white ‘Casablanca’, the electric blue ‘Oriental Blue’ and my favorite, ‘Cliveden Beauty’, a beautiful pastel blue. All were started from seed years ago and have been consistent performers in my garden,

One variety I am always trying to convert gardeners and growers to is Delphinium Chinensis. I think this is a fabulous cut flower and so pretty in the garden! It’s a much smaller plant, 2 feet if given lots of space, 3 feet if grown with tight spacing. It has a branchy habit, making it a great filler flower. The bees and other pollinators love it too. It’s shorter height makes staking not necessary, another bonus. If you leave the flowers to go to seed in your garden, it will readily self sow, giving you more plants next year. I start it from seed indoors and it flowers the first year but gets better and taller in subsequent years. I have tried ‘Diamonds Blue’ (electric blue), ‘Fashion Lavender’ and ‘Butterfly Blue’, ‘Pink’ and ‘White’. The Butterfly series is by far my favorite. The soft pastel colors are so pretty to work with in bouquets.

And now, my all time favorite cultivar, Delphinium Elatum. These are hybrid cultivars designed for the florist trade with a range of unusual and beautiful colors. The plants flower in a pyramidal shape with the flowers held away from the stalk by long stems. The individual florets are large and I use them in boutonnieres, corsages and flower crowns. I have a lot of D. elatum colors in my garden, too many to name individually but Pink Blush and Pink Princess are two stunning ones that attract lots of attention. The seeds for these special hybrids are not readily available in garden centres but can be ordered online from one of the breeders, New Zealand Delphiniums. I interviewed the owner this year, Katrina Hindmarsh, for The Sustainable Flowers Podcast. She is a wealth of information about best practices in growing and breeding delphiniums. Have a listen if you’re up for a deep dive on these gorgeous hybrids. We covered seed starting, pests and diseases and growing conditions. Lots to learn!

I start new delphiniums from seed each year, to replace any that die off from disease or winter kill but also because I can’t stop trying new colors! There are beautiful new tissue culture ones as well that I want to add to my garden. Imagine a peach or cranberry delphinium-heavenly!! Whatever colors you have in your garden, I hope you get to see the hummingbirds feeding off them this summer, it’s just the best sight ever. <3