September, 1922 
61 
Delphiniums have been given 
unusual effectiveness in the 
garden at “Weld”, near Bos¬ 
ton, where they form great 
panels of waving blue 
G RAND and stately are the im¬ 
proved hybrid delphiniums. Their 
tall spires of bloom rising to a 
height of five to seven feet supply our 
gardens with a wealth of blue that would 
be sadly lacking, were it not for these 
magnificent plants. 
No other flower combines so many 
varied shades of this lovely color, the 
rarest in the garden. The soft azure of 
the forget-me-not, the rich blue of the 
gentian and the deep sapphire, royal 
purple, lavender and mauve hues are all 
represented. The petals suffused with a 
beautiful and indescribable rose irides¬ 
cence form a brilliant setting for the 
tuft or “bee’’ as it is called of small 
white, golden or black central petals, 
which, by striking contrast, accentuates 
the beauty of these large outer petals. 
Delphiniums are particularly effective 
in the hardy border or in masses in front 
of and among shrubs. In fact, they 
should always be seen against the back¬ 
ground of some harmonious contrasting 
color, rather than against the blue of the 
sky. Yellow or white hollyhocks for in¬ 
stance, form a pleasing contrast. 
Delphiniums of all shades harmonize 
with each other, and the effect of a group 
of seedlings or mixed varieties is perhaps 
more pleasing than a mass of a single 
variety. 
In Europe a great many varieties have 
been developed and named. Most of 
these are very expensive, but while these 
fine European varieties are eagerly sought 
for, and many attempts have been made 
DELPHINIUMS 
fo r 
AMERICAN 
GARDENS 
BERTRAND H. FARR 
to establish them in this country, the im¬ 
ported plants have proved to be short-lived 
and gradually disappear. I do not know 
of any adequate stock of named varieties 
existing in the country to-day. They are 
very difficult to import, being unable to 
survive the long period in transit. Only 
a small percentage can be saved on arrival, 
and often all are dead. Now since the 
Foreign Plant Embargo is in force, fur¬ 
ther attempts seem hopeless. 
There are two reasons why these Euro¬ 
pean varieties have not succeeded here. 
First the change of climatic conditions is 
too great. Coming from the cool moist 
climate of northern Europe, they cannot 
endure our hot dry summers. In the cool¬ 
er atmosphere of New England or the 
higher altitudes of our mountainous sec¬ 
tions, they thrive to perfection. I have 
seen, in the Pocono Mountains of Penn¬ 
sylvania, wonderful plants 7' to 8' in 
height, which originally came from our 
garden, but growing with a vigorous lux¬ 
uriance that I have never been able to 
produce. 
This would suggest that in the warmer 
and more humid valleys the coolest loca¬ 
tion in the garden should be selected for 
them, preferably where they receive some 
protection from the direct rays of the after¬ 
noon sun. 
The second and probably the greater 
reason for failure of the imported plants is 
that named varieties must be increased 
from year to year from cuttings or frequent 
division of roots, and gradually the vital- 
(Continued on page 94) 
Seeds from well developed speci¬ 
mens of the best varieties, like 
King of Delphiniums, should be 
used for the propagation of new 
plants for the garden 
