110 
The Garden Magazine, April, 1921 
the states to the west and south we find Delphinium elatum 
or exaltatum, a tall species bearing flowers of a purplish-blue 
color. 
The beautiful hybrids of our modern gardens are probably 
mainly derived from crosses between this last named sort 
which may very likely be one of those referred to by Parkinson, 
and Delphinium grandiflorum from Siberia. How rich the 
inheritance of this modern hybrid is, may be guessed from the 
remarkable variations in leaf form that will appear in a bed of 
seedlings and the ever changing form and color combinations of 
the flowers. 
M V OWN interest in the Delphinium was first awakened by 
the appearance, among my yearly collection of catalogues, 
of a copy of an especially beautiful year-book issued by a great 
English firm who make a specialty of the Delphinium, and who 
have done much of the pioneer work in perfecting it. In the 
spring of 1910 1 obtained a consignment of English grown seeds 
saved from the best named varieties in the hybrid class, includ- 
ing the beautiful Belladonna type, seed of which had only re- 
cently been successfully obtained. Since then seeds and plants 
have also been obtained from other sources. 
Aside from the building of beautiful pictures in a garden by 
careful groupings and arrangements, the most fascinating fea- 
ture of gardening, to my mind, is the search for new and more 
beautiful flower forms. It was largely this collector’s interest — 
the wish to have as varied and individually beautiful a series of 
Delphiniums as possible for my own garden — that led me to save 
seed from the most beautiful and distinctive sorts, and by re- 
peated trials at growing new batches of seedlings work toward 
that goal. Many flower forms have appeared in my various 
plantations differing considerably from those shown by the or- 
iginal plants. New color combinations, differently formed 
flowers, and in some cases much larger individual florets have 
resulted. 
DELPHINIUMS ALONG THE PERGOLA 
This double white (D. moerheimei) is really very stunning; particularly when, as here, its brilliantly luminous 
spikes are massed against a background of foliage. Its leaf (No. 3, page 109,) is intricate and especially beau- 
tiful in shape. Moerheimii must be grown from cuttings or divisions, as it produces only an occasional seed 
W ITHIN reasonable 
limits, the size of 
flower, as of leaf and stalk, 
and the plant as a whole, 
depends somewhat upon 
soil conditions, the amount 
and quality of fertilizer 
used, and the thoroughness 
of cultivation. Ours is a 
well drained, rather light 
soil. The only fertilizer 
used is ordinary barnyard 
manure. In fact the land 
given up to my latest and 
largest plantation of Del- 
phiniums, containing over 
a thousand plants, was a 
part of the vegetable gar- 
den with no other prepara- 
tion than that given for 
the planting of vegetables. 
Yet even here under iden- 
tical conditions, individual 
plants often show marked 
differences in size and gen- 
eral robustness of habit. 
Thediversityinleaf form 
(see illustration, page 109) 
is one of the striking fea- 
tures of such a planting. 
With the exception of No. 1 
which shows a typical 
leaf of the dwarf Chinese 
Delphinium, any or all of 
the types shown may ap- 
pear in a batch of seed- 
lings. Of these, however, 
Nos. 4 and 5, are likely to 
predominate. 
No. 2 is the sort of leaf 
(in my experience) always 
appearing in the so-called 
Belladonna group, that 
being merely the name 
given by the European 
grower in whose experi- 
mental grounds it first 
made its appearance. The 
original Belladonna, as 
sometimes happens among 
hybrid plants, failed to pro- 
duce fertile seeds, and for 
