I was walking with my dogs this morning through the garden and my colorful delphinium was out in full force. Each year, I have a variety of blues, purples and whites, which provide color as the rest of my garden’s color starts to fade in the hot Napa weather.
I looked up delphinium this morning and learned that it is a genus of about 300 perennial flowering plants in the Ranunculaceae family. The common name for delphinium is larkspur.
These are my favorites this year. The pale blue with white centers looks iridescent in the early morning and evening hours. They may be ‘Aurora Blue’.
I also love purples and whites. Here are some of the varieties we planted this year:
We hang onto the stems after they’ve bloomed, hoping that the seeds will drop and give us returning flowers next year, but we only get a handful. Unfortunately, delphinium doesn’t thrive in our zone 14. It prefers zones 3-7 and moist, cool summers, which is the last thing we have in the Napa Valley. Yet they still come through for us mid-summer, despite the conditions.
Every year we plant more delphinium because I just can’t imagine my summer garden without these beautiful flowers.
Addendum: blue delphiniums in my border from this morning – one week later…
and the delphiniums off of my kitchen…
