Finally, some delphiniums!!!

I've been trying to grow delphiniums from seed in my garden for a few years, now. They usually get eaten by slugs before they make it into their second year. With a little help from sluggo, I finally have 6 delphiniums in their second year in the garden! The seed were wintersown in the early spring of 2010, and the little guys were then transplanted into the bed later that spring. And a bunch of them actually survived. Here's one. It's Delphinium x cultorum Centurion Lilac Blue Bicolor F1 Hybrid. Of all the varieties I sowed (6 varieties). This is the one giving me the best flowers in it's second year. I'm so happy. These pics are from this morning after a major storm, so they are wet, but I wanted to share before I ran out of time to snap a picture.

another pic

and, one more

I am trying to start delphiniums and canterbury bells, Are they really such a challenge? I am also having problems starting clematis.

Moxies, I don't know about canterbury bells, I haven't tried those. As far as delphiniums go, I haven't had trouble getting them to germinate and grow into little plants. It's been getting them beyond that stage that's been trouble for me. They always seemed to get eaten by slugs before they had a chance to survive. I sprinkled some sluggo around the bed that they are in last spring and this spring, and it seems to have helped a lot. I'm going to see if I can get some of them to self-seed. We'll see how it goes. Good luck with yours!

Thank you pgt! I will be keeping an eye on this thread for info. I have started alot of things inside the hothouse, simply to see how they did etc. Then transplanting them outside.

I had the same experience in WA near the coast. Every time I put out Delpihinium seedlings, the slugs mowed them down to the ground within days.

ONE plant survived and put out ONE spike (after 2 years of trying).

By then I knew to put out Sluggo and beer saucers. Now it's the second year, that lone survivor is 4-5 feet tall, happy and bushy, and put out 6 big spikes. It looks as if it may flower in a week or two. (I just bought some supports for it.)

I wonder if first-year Delphs are more vulnerable to slugs than second-year plants are? For example, maybe only mature plants are able to exude some slug-repelling scent.

Until this year, every leaf looked machine-gunned, they had so many holes. This year, no holes at all. Maybe this year the slugs are attracted instead to the trays of seedlings I have on the deck (surrounded by slug bait).

Corey

Ive been trying to grow Delphs...forever it seems . Ive been buying them .I got 2 to WS germinate dont know if they survived,havent ckd them lately,they were soo eenie.ive not had the best of luck,getting them to reseed.Have lots of seed pods forming on them this year.Blue mirror,going to save that seed forsure!!!! Menards had Lupines and Delphs,larkspur,yesterday they were beautiful wanted to buy 1 of every color !!! Didnt buy any at all..LOL..I was good..Hope I can find a nice photo to show

Hugger, what variety of WHAT is that intense blue flower? THAT is stunning!

Wow...why is it the flowers I seem to like best, are the most difficult ones to grow? Delphiniums, clematis, peony, stuff like that. My peonies grew...but, now have stopped growing. Maybe it's just them.

Grandiflorum, Blue Mirror

moxie ,what do you mean they have stopped growing (Peonies) ???

Is there first year? And where did you get the tubers? I was given some divisions from a friend and they took a couple of years to bloom. I bought the tubers from a online nursery, the tubers were smaller than a hot dog and THOSE bloomed the first year!!!

I've heard they hate transplanting and if you bury them too deep you get lots of foliage but no blooms.

OH ,OK they were newly planted ,and just small 1st year.They will grow... I would imagine it was a real small crown or root to start so it will be on the puny side for a while. ive moved mine and they did fine the next season,it was the whole row as seen in my photo.,cant figure how deep would you have to plant them to make them not bloom????. wish you were closer I dig you a BIG one then you would have blooms

I grew up with peonies, grown them before even....in another state. This is the first time planting anything here, in Midlands SC. They came up, foliage is healthy. I did plant them in a place we had a burn pile, knowing all the well that the site might have too much potash for anything. However, my transplanted marigolds are loving that spot..and even my transplanted cabbages are doing rather well. The comfrey doesn't like it, it is remaining puny. The squash sprouted, and bloomed, then promptly died. The chard is still only 2" tall. So, I plan on moving some of the plants. I will wait on the peonies though. I think it is a good location for them..they may just need their 2nd year to bloom.

I do know that a small root will take time to bloom,but the potash could be a real problem for other things???

I, too, spent years watching my delphinium seedlings (and young plants) get devoured by slugs. For a long time I didn't know it was slugs because I used Sluggo and the damage was so bad the leaves turned brown on the larger plants. I finally learned that lots of slogs can create brown lines on the leaves. Then I heard about copper!!!! Slugs can't crawl over copper. So I got a roll of flashing from Home Depot and made inch high collars which I put around the delphs and fastened with paper clips. I've since learned to use tin cans to wrap the copper around. My hubby cuts them in half if they're the taller kind. Poof!!!! NO SLUG DAMAGE!! But as the season wears on I have to battle earwigs. Especially for the second growth. I've been spraying with Spinosad, which seems to work, but as soon as I use up my regular Sluggo, I'm going to get Sluggo plus, which has Spinosad in it and attracts earwigs.

I think I have a special challenge in that my delphs grow in front of a stone wall... great home for slugs and earwigs.

LAS

Boy I know about amending soil,I have clay an lots of it...LOL

I see a few slugs here but my chipmunks must keep them at bay ??? and the asphalt driveway,you see a slime trail an then a dead slug...yea.earwigs can be a real issue here too,annoying..good trick for copper sleeves.

Moxie,

Have you considered hauling some of your clay to amend your sand, and vice-versa? It won't eliminate the ned to add compost, but it will improve drainage and aeration in both sites (as long as OM is added also).

I hadn't thought of using copper as sleeves-on-cans, but that sounds like a great idea. I wonder if the dissimilar metals in contact adds to the deterrent by creating a small voltage?

How do you get the cans over/ arounbd adult plants? Wait until winter or cut the cans in half lengthwise?

Corey

RickCorey_WA, for adult plants you have to just paper clip the copper around the stem. The cans only work for seedlings. OR.... you can do it in early spring for plants whose stems don't persist.

LAS

Thanks - I'll check out copper flashing at HD.

Corey

Here's my sole surviving Delph after I took 6-8 main spikes.

"Pacific Giant Blend"
Delphinium elatum
from Botanical Interests

The secondary floral spikes have opened.

Corey

Im collecting seed off mine,the electric blue is still blooming a little.Empty seed pods on my NOID ???

cory ,love the color of that one,I bought another delph,with 2 colors in it the light blue and a mauve color,racoon dug it up broke off the flower spikes,I dont think its going to make it...arrgg they also destroyed peppers my mortgagelifter tomato plant heirloom,they were just awful this year digging and digging..

I had trouble with racoons digging, they seem to be going fishing, looking for worms. I removed the mulch and put wire down and tomato cages around the peppers. Dead sod between the rows gives them a place to dig as well as the lawn.

I think your racoons are much worse than my squirrels and cats.

Corey

When I moved into this house 1 1/2 years ago, I realized I was going to have to put chicken wire down under the bark to keep all the neighorhood cats. It took them months to finally stop trying to dig and go potty in the flower bed under our living room window. Every so often "someone" needs to be reminded and I find bark moved off again...

I cured the "litterbox" problem under the bay window by covering it with rocks. The sparrows had to find another place for dust baths, but the smell was much better. Of course that wont work where you want to plant.
Herman

I left a few flower spikes on my one Delphinium, waited and waited until it was brown and dry and the seeds were rattling and eager to be poured out of the open pods, then collected

4-5 teaspoons of Delphinium seeds!

Since there is only the one plant in my yard, and it's an O.P. strain, I would expect the color to come pretty true. Would anyone like some seeds for postage? They are fresh seeds, collected a month or so ago. (I've read that delph seed tends not to store very long.)

I don't know if Delphs need seed collected from 20-30 individuals to maintain health: this would be just the one individual crossed with itself.

Pale blue with pale purple edges.

Corey

Oh man, what a temptation but I'm up to my eyeballs in projects and I'm afraid of bringing ANYTHING else into the house! LOL... if you get no takers I will not be able to resist though!

Hi Pat

Sure, I'll tempt you. Call me an enabler! I put those on my "TO SEND" list, but it can take me a while, I'm backed up.

I've heard the claim that these are short-lived perennials in cold climates, but Zone 6 ought to give you 3-4 years per plant, at a guess. And they are lovelyy blooms, and the foliage is very enthusistic. The parent seed was easy for me to start without even stratifying, but slugs ate 99.5% of my seedlings.

As long as I'm sending those, here is my personal Have list in case you see anything you like. Asian greens and an Italian heirloom with brocoli-flavored leaves. This and that.
http://cubits.org/ellasgarden/db/hogwildseedswap/view/17766/

And the "New Bee Stash" Have list is the third post in this thread.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1191453/
If you'd like any of those, I would just ask that, one of these years, you send back some seeds to the New Bee stash. We probably have some Clematis seeds, but not the variety you were looking for.

Enjoy! With several teasponsfull of seed, it will get old before I can give it all away. And the Post Office needs the postage!

Corey

If you still have some of the blanket flower seed I would love to have some of that too. Please let me know what to send you.

Hi Pat

Burgundy "Blanket Flower" "Indian Blanket" (Asteraceae) Blanket Flower ? Those originally came to me from a new Bee round robin.

Probably yes, and if not the Burgundy, maybe another Gaillardia: "Sunburst Burgundy" from from deejay9:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/31615/

I've got you down for my light blue/pale purple Delphinium elatum "Pacific Giant" and split some
"Blanket Flower" Gaillardia.

P.S. I just bought a bundle of cheap 0.9" mechanical pencils (thick line). If you mark on plastic mini-blind slats with pencils, would you like one?

>> Please let me know what to send you.

I already found your address, so you don't have to send anything. I see from your "feedback" page that you're a generous trader, so you're very welcome to seeds that I have plenty of.

If you want to, and have some seed to contribute to the "New Bee" stash, any seed under three years old that you have a name for would be very welcome.

Some of my own personal interests are:

LOBELIA
SALVIA
PENSTEMON
PETUNIAS (even if F2 and not true to parents. Love blue & purple)
DAHLIA (ESP. red-orange cactus) even if F2 and not true to parents.

Corey

Just a few of either of both of the blanket flower. I think they are beatiful and haven't tried any yet. A blind /pencil label would be wonderful, thanks! I will look and see if I still have Penstemon seed that I gathered before I left Boise 2 seasons ago.

Since this post I have had another delphinium success. See my post "Earwigs - Three cheers for Slug-go plus" on "Garden Pests and Diseases." Earwigs were my bane late in the season when the second growth was very small.

LAS

Got you covered, Pat!

Corey

My delphinium seeds....now 4" tall ...are still hanging in there. I had to replant the Canterbury Bells though.