Striking Diversity of Leaf Form Seen in One Delphinium Planting (Seepages iio, ill) 
WHY I GROW DELPHINIUMS 
JOHN L. REA 
Satisfaction and Fascination of Growing Up a Personal Strain of the Very Variable Popular 
Larkspur and Artistic Pleasure of Growing Diverse Forms for Effective Garden Compositions 
[Editor’s Note: In Mr. Rea, whose last article, “Statuary In the Garden,’’ appeared in our December issue, we find a sculptor 
whose creative impulse seeks expression in diverse ways. Loving color, and being more than a bit of a gardener besides, he takes 
pleasure in growing the living material out of which his “ beautiful garden pictures” are built; and though a less enduring medium 
than stone, the Delphinium, or Larkspur of old-fashioned parlance — while it lasts — is perhaps a more completely satisfying one.] 
HE Delphinium has of late years come to be one of the 
most popular of all Perennials for the hardy garden. The 
reasons for this well deserved favor are not far to 
seek. Indeed, a chronicle of the qualities that endear 
it to so many garden lovers reads much as if one had undertaken 
to describe an imaginary model of perfection, a visionary in- 
habitant of a dream garden in some fair Utopia; the truth, of 
course, being that the Delphinium has nearly all the excellencies 
with a minimum of the deficiencies that a thoroughly depend- 
able herbaceous Perennial should possess. 
In the first place, it is unusually hardy. 1 have never, I 
think, during the ten years I have been growing Delphiniums lost 
by winter-killing a plant that went into winter in anything like 
a satisfactory condition. If it fails to survive, the failure can 
usually be traced to neglect or ill-management on the gar- 
dener’s part; such as very late and careless planting, improper 
winter protection — too much rather than too little being more 
likely to prove fatal — or planting in a low position where stand- 
ing water collects during the winter thaws and spring floodings. 
The habit and general character of growth leave little to be 
desired. The abundant foliage is fresh and clean in texture and 
beautiful in form and color. When in early summer, just as the 
tall flower stalks are about to shoot upward and each plant is a 
beautiful rounded mass of green, three or four feet high and 
nearly as broad, it is easy to appreciate the fancied resemblance 
to the Acanthus, which has often caused the term “classic” to be 
applied to its appearance. Very few plants are equally effective 
in this pre-flowering stage. 
And what a magnificent show a well-grown Delphinium pre- 
sents when in full bloom, with from one to three dozen towering 
flower stalks in some cases nearly nine feet tall ! 
Its one great lack is odor; for the Delphinium, though much 
sought after by bumble bees and fairly haunted by humming 
birds in their searching for the smaller honey-seeking insects, is 
almost odorless. This lack, if one remembers the less glorified 
form of the flower of not so long ago, possibly explains why it 
was less often found in many an old time garden. Indeed, we 
are likely to look upon the Delphinium as quite a new comer 
amongst us, and, in a sense, this is so. Although Parkinson in 
his “ Paradisus Terrestris” of 1629, describes and pictures two 
or three sorts of Delphinium, seeds of which had been brought 
him from other lands, where, as he says, “they grow among the 
corn in many countries beyond the sea,” yet, these primitive 
forms are far removed from those shown in the catalogues of the 
modern hybridizer and grower. 
In fact the modern multiple types and forms are of com- 
paratively recent development which has almost entirely taken 
place during the last twenty-five or thirty years. This com- 
paratively recent interest in producing new forms and extending 
the color range by careful selecting and hybridizing was appar- 
ently aroused among English floriculturists first and later spread 
to other countries. Here in America, where the Delphinium 
finds, on the whole, a climate well suited to it, much of the later 
work is being done. 
T HE exact parentage of the modern hybrids is not alto- 
gether certain. Forty-odd species of Delphinium, including 
both annual and perennial sorts, are known to botanists. Their 
lists are likely not complete. Within the last few years a sweet- 
scented, white-flowered sort was announced as having been 
found in the highlands of blast Africa. Siberia, also, and other 
parts of Asia have contributed largely to the list of species. 
Parkinson recognized the Annual or Rocket Delphinium as na- 
tive to England. America has a goodly number of native spe- 
cies in the perennial class. There is a government bulletin on 
the “Poison Weed” of the western cattle ranges, which is the 
name locally applied to several native Delphiniums. There the 
early green growth of the plant often causes serious loss through 
the poisonous effect on cattle eating it. However, as an animal 
must consume an amount equal to three per cent, of its own 
weight before being affected, this unpleasant characteristic of 
the plant need cause the average gardener little concern. Any 
way we would probably discover “bossy” and shoo her away 
before she had depleted our borders to that extent. And, be- 
sides, turned loose to pick and choose in a garden patch, it is 
highly probable she would select something more to her taste 
and at the same time more conducive to her general well being. 
Delphinium Barbeyi, a tall species found in Colorado, has 
violet-blue flowers. Delphinium cucullatum, common in Mon- 
tana, is of lower growth and bears a gray-blue blossom. Del- 
phinium Menziesii, found throughout many of the Rocky 
Mountain states, bears a violet-blue flower, and, judged from 
photographs, rather closely resembles the so-called Chinese 
Delphiniums of our gardens. Delphinium bicolor, called the 
most beautiful American species, is found in the states north of 
Colorado. In the plains east of the Rockies grows a white- 
flowered sort, Delphinium priscens. In Delphinium nudicaule 
California gives us a dwarf species with a scarlet bloom. Del- 
phinium tricorne, a dwarf variety with a bright blue flower, 
grows wild in some of the Eastern states. In Pennsylvania and 
109 
