July, i p i 6 
17 
ting them into pots, the tiny thumb-pots, 
either in paper or red clay, will be the size. 
Usually they are “hardened off” by being 
set out-of-doors during the day for ten 
days or so before they are planted, but if 
the season is forward this is not essential. 
Naturally you will protect them if a cold 
night comes on, even after they have been 
in the garden for a little time; for any very 
young seedling is tender and ought not to 
be exposed to low temperature. 
Setting Them Outdoors 
The better way, however, is not to plant 
them out until the weather has finally set¬ 
tled; if you have them in pots, wait until 
well into May before putting them in the 
ground. Then there will be no need of 
protection at any time, for they will have 
outgrown their tenderest infancy. 
These plants will probably bloom a little 
later than old and established ones—that 
is, later the first summer. Of course they 
will blossom at the seasonable time, after 
the first year. In order to have late flowers 
of full size and quality, one may sow the 
seed later, bringing the plants to full ma¬ 
turity just about the time the early ones 
have finished their bloom for the year. 
These, too, in the second year will blossom 
at the regulation period. But if you want 
the maiden, full-sized bloom in late summer, 
try sowing seed late in April or early in May 
indoors in the boxes, and transplanting ex¬ 
actly as with the early sown seed; but do 
not set the little plants out into the garden 
until late in June. Then put them wherever 
you want them to be, and they will go on 
growing exactly as if they had not been re¬ 
tarded by a late start, and will produce full- 
sized spikes of bloom in August and Sep¬ 
tember, which the old plants cannot quite 
do, even though you cut them back as soon 
as their flowers fade. 
The second crop from these is never 
•quite as large and fine as the first, yet they 
are very satisfactory, if you do not care to 
.go to the trouble of doing what has just been 
The Chinese variety, D. Chinense, has 
delicate and finely cut foliage, with flow¬ 
ers of almost gentian blue 
described. Choose the oldtime Delphinium 
formosum, if you do this. 
The only enemy that ever threatens lark¬ 
spur—and that not seriously—is a small 
white grub that appears sometimes at the 
roots. It may destroy them if left to its 
own devices; but a dressing of finely sifted 
coal ashes put over them in the fall, and 
scattered well into their crowns, seriously 
incommodes the brute and puts him to rout 
if he undertakes to make an attack. There 
is little likelihood of his appearing at all if 
No perennial garden should he without its 
delphiniums; their flower spires are too 
imposing to he omitted 
manure is kept away from the roots of the 
plants with scrupulous care. Use it under 
the earth that is under them at time of plant¬ 
ing, and use it over the ground, if you 
wish; but never put it into the holes with 
them. 
Some years ago there appeared a fungous 
disease that caused something of a com¬ 
motion among larkspur lovers, but to my 
knowledge it never amounted to anything 
serious. Presumably it was one of those 
“flare-ups” that sometimes occur with al¬ 
most every plant under cultivation, under 
weather and atmospheric conditions that 
happen to favor particularly some dormant 
or little known fungi that cause them, which 
Hybrid larkspurs are found in many 
colors, especially mauve and lavender. 
But the pure blue is the best 
die out of themselves when these condi¬ 
tions cease to be prevalent. 
Three Good Species 
Oldest and best known of all species of 
larkspur is the Delphinium formosum re¬ 
ferred to above. This is dark blue in color, 
or rather blue with darker margins, with a 
white eye and a spur that runs to violet and 
is “bifid” at its tip—divided into two equal 
parts by a median rib. Many hybrids that 
are lovely have been produced from this 
species, and it itself is the larkspur best 
suited to large naturalistic plantings or to 
naturalizing, owing to its permanence. It 
is presumed to be a native of Asia Minor, 
grows from 2' to 3' high, and in the latitude 
of New York comes into bloom about the 
twentieth of June. 
The bee larkspur of Europe is Delphin¬ 
ium datum, taller than the preceding and 
showing various shades of blue flowers, all 
with black “eyes” or centers and deep violet 
petals. These, by the way, are not the con¬ 
spicuous members of a larkspur blossom, 
but lie deep in the shelter of the sepals, at 
the heart of the flower. They would never 
be recognized as petals by any but a bot¬ 
anist, and they are of very little consequence 
in the flower’s appearance save when they 
grow with a different shade in the midst of 
its prevailing color. That is what they do 
with the bee larkspur, giving a lovely ef¬ 
fect of warm violet within the clear blue— 
almost, indeed, like a reflection through it 
—a miracle of tinting and blending at which 
one can never cease to marvel. 
Most persistent bloomer of all is Delphin¬ 
ium belladonna, commonly called the ever- 
blooming larkspur. This is lighter in color 
than either of the others mentioned, being 
a luminous turquoise of exquisite delicacy. 
The plants do not grow quite as tall as either 
Delphinium formosum or D. elatum, the av¬ 
erage height being perhaps 2'. The Chinese 
variety, D. Chinense, is still lower growing. 
This has very finely cut and delicate foliage, 
(Continued on page 54) 
