Put in more Monkshood?

I have an established stand of some unnamed aconitum (maybe carmichaelli?) that reaches 6 feet in height in a quite shady location. Personally I think it gives the most beautiful blue blooms of any perennial I have ever seen, but not until mid October. I actually like that it happens late...something to look forward to.

Each year I consider including more of these plants in our garden but I never do. I think in part I am overly cautious due to its extreme toxicity. So I am musing over this again. Doing some searching I was pleasantly surprised by the number of varieties of aconitum. Clearly they are available in a few more colours and some of much lesser height (eg. ‘Bressingham Spire’ and very tiny 'Blue Lagoon').

I know they need some shade and or moisture and to complain I wish they would bloom from the bottom up but having said that the flowers are exquisite.

I would love to hear from DGers that have several aconitum in their 'repertoire'. Post away!

Hi rouge-
I have fiddled around just a bit with the Monkshoods. I have been reluctant due to their need for moist soil. It rarely rains here in the summer, and I am a neglectful waterer. My soil is clay. I don't worry too much about toxicity. Lots of plants are toxic but I just don't eat them. I do avoid Euphorbias having once gotten the sap on me, which was highly unpleasant.
I see from my label collection I had tried Aconitum napellus 'Newry Blue' and one just labeled 'Blue'. These died rapidly. I think at one point I also tried 'Bressingham Spire'.
I planted 2 A. napellus 'Blue Valley' by my porch last year. I thought they might do well there. It is a shady (north side) spot and since I do water the planters I thought they might get enough moisture. I really did water them. One seemed to dry up immediately after planting and died within weeks. The other did OK then seemed to get dried up and rapidly turned brown and died. this was not until Sept I think.
I also planted 2 A. arendsii in a much more open spot, better soil. It had been shady but right after I planted them we cut back the hedge on the west side so they were in a rather sunny spot. These ones were neglected. One died immediately, the other seemed OK until late summer, then turned brown and died.
Monkshood reminds me of certain houseplants I have killed, where one missed watering is fatal.
However... I noticed the other day that the 'Blue Valley' by the porch is emerging and looks good (PIC#1). I just went out to photograph it and lo and behold, the other 'Blue Valley' has a leaf (PIC#2), and also the A arendsii (PIC#3)! They look a bit nibbled, hopefully there are some dead slugs nearby!
I will update this thread in the summer, hopefully with gorgeous photos.

I bought one "once". I spent quite a bit of money on it. It didn't make it to bloom-died. I was told this plant would grow in our area if it had full shade. Well, it didn't. I think my area is too hot and humid.
I have learned from trial and error (probably more error) to buy plants that pretty much like it here. So much easier than coddling a plant that just isn't happy in it's environment. There's so many pretty flowers, it doesn't really limit you.
Regarding toxity, I agree with Pistil. Many plants are toxic. If you like it, and grows well in the area, plant more!

I'm very surprised to hear that monkshood are thought to "need" moist soil, since they thrive here in a dry climate. I've never lost one and they self-seed to the point of being one of my main weeding chores. We get 16 inches of precipitation on average in a year here, much of that as snow that sublimates during the winter or melts and runs off while the ground is still frozen. It's strange to me why your plants died, Pistil. Did they happen to be planted in peat?

'altal, it has been my experience that MH need more moisture than many other perennials. For sure more shade lessens the amount required. (The plant that I have posted a picture in the original top post is in a fair amount of shade).

This message was edited Feb 28, 2015 8:01 PM

Very odd, to me. I've grown a variety of species and cultivars here for 19 years and have never ever seen one wilt or show any sort of stress in full sun, including under the eaves of the house and growing overtop tree roots. The only sort of issue ever is that they are affected by delphinium worm, though the damage is negligible - I may squash a few worms in the bud but I generally ignore it. Very surprising to hear about these experiences in much wetter climates, where aconitums appeared to need a lot more water yet. I've posted photos of some of them in PF, if you want to look at them.

It must be the heat.

The first photo shows one of the stands of Aconitum napellus that's been there for over 15 years - it starts blooming around mid-August and through fall; excellent fall colour. White-flowered plants have been produced by self-seeding in one of the other clumps.
Aconitum vulparia has white-cream flowers on a modestly-sized plant, and blooms very early, while the remainder of the species/cultivars I have bloom much later. Aconitum lamarckii is similar (white-cream) but late blooming.
The most intriguing are a couple of mystery ones... one purchased as Aconitum sp. ex. DaVue Shan (the seed collection area in China); this one is 25-30 cm tall (the second and third photos).
The most curious is one that was supposed to be suitable for the alpine garden (grown from wild-collected seed again) but is a actually a huge plant with magnificent leaves in a large basal rosette and 10 foot long flowering stems (fourth and fifth photos). The closest I've come to figuring it out is Aconitum anthroideum, although that doesn't seem to entirely fit, from the description of it.
Anyway, it's a great genus - keep trying all the ones you come across!

alta: Very pretty pictures.

alta- this is very interesting. Mine are in either clay, or clay amended with compost and mulch. So perhaps it is the clay rather than lack of water. What kind of soil do you have? Or perhaps they are lime-lovers? This gives me great hope I can succeed, and now I intend to try others too (also to take care of the ones that did come back from the dead this year).
The weather here is indeed very wet, for about 8 months of the year. Summer is usually extremely dry, but not hot. However my Aconites did not seem to drown over the winter, but died in summer outright soon after planting, or after not watered for a few weeks.

That first photo is outstanding 'alta'...thank you.

What is the latest that any of your MH begins to bloom.

As I mentioned the stand I have comes into full bloom like clockwork each year, come mid...October!

I wonder if the (excessive) amount of shade it experiences all season contributes to its 'lateness' in terms of flowering.

Christopher Lloyd and Graham Stuart Thomas both describe the genus as tolerant of sun, shade and everything in between. Neither mentions any pH preference or limitation - like the great majority of plants, they tolerate a range of pH.
The soil here is clay. My plants are in beds that were built of compost dumped on top of the clay, very long ago, or in unamended clay. It's alkaline with a pH of 8.
Yes, shade does delay blooming. I don't have any that start blooming so late as that - this is zone 3 and we've usually had killing frosts by then.
When I asked if the purchased plants that died shortly after planting had been potted in peat (peaty mixes, I mean), it was because this can be a problem. It dries out quickly and is very hard to resaturate. People often remove all the soil from the roots, and sometimes even wash the roots off, before planting, so that the roots aren't trapped in a dry ball of peaty mix. Just a thought...

So it is not the clay. Seems unlikely to be the pH. I suppose it is possible it is the potting soil. I do not normally wash it off, just water well before planting or even soak the container for a half hour if it seems dry, until it stays heavy when the water has run out. Come to think of it, all these were in gallon pots. I usually get 4" pots when possible, but I was worried they would not do well so got bigger plants than I usually do.
I have had a similar problem when attempting to use the expanded peat pellets or "plantable" peat pots. The peat seemed to "wick" the moisture up to the surface and dry it out.
I should do a little experiment, with small vs large pots, unamended vs lime chips, and washed vs unwashed roots. But I won't because it would be too expensive and I don't actually need that many plants.
Now I know there are so many kinds, I might get some more.

Birder, my aconitum grows like crazy. I think you should try it again.
Heat & humidity hasn't bothered mine in the least.
Reseeds readily as Alta noted above.
It's sturdy - bolt upright without needing support - maybe 5ft tall or so.
Many blooming stems.
And the late season of bloom is always a plus (note the fall color in the background).
I really don't know which one I have, but it has reseeded in several other areas.
Blooms perfectly well in fairly deep shade.
And amazingly enough, my voracious deer don't bother it.

I have been so pleased with it that I bought a few other colors last yr - pink, white & bicolor.
They're too small to have flowered yet, though I got a single white bloom,
which I was disappointed with, since it looked like a muddy white to me.
But I'll wait til the plant matures to see if it looks nicer w/ maturity.

By the way, I love the foliage on that big mystery plant of yours, Alta!

Given its extreme toxicity I am not surprised deer leave it alone. (Wonderful pics 'robin'. Do all of you agree that the blue ones have such an incredible shade of blue?)

I don't have any that look blue to my eye, more purple really... (P.S. I need to explain that I'm always saying this whenever it comes to a blue/purple flower. :-) But, in my defence, I have finally bought the RHS mini colour chart and so can back up my weird impressions, LOL! It's not just my odd sense of "blue" - the colours on mine really are in the purple range, to blue-violet at best. :-) )

A few more...
Aconitum x cammarum 'Bicolor'; a baby A. albo-violaceum, a vining species; A. lamarckii; white-flowered, self-seeded A. napellus, mine are often a muddy white too; seedling of one of the various, small alpine species, A. rotundifolium;

I too see more purple in the ones I grow. It reminds me of when I was a member of a local orchid group. Some cattleyas were described as "blue" one member described such a color as "funeral parlor grey" LOL

Weerobin, Which Acontinum do you have? And, do you have it in deep shade? And, How often do you water it? Is it in mositure retentive soil? Don't mean to throw so many questions at you, but I do like the plant and would like to learn from you what you have done.

A blue flower or a purple flower? A blue & black dress or a white & gold one?
Maybe we can launch this question to the twittersphere and get a national consensus!

Birder, I'm not sure if I have the info re: which aconitum I have.
I'll check to see if I have the info once I'm back at my home computer after work.

Edited to add: Amazingly enough, I was able to figure out from my pathetic record-keeping system that the pictured aconitum is aconitum carmichaelii arendsii.

Edited again to add that my original plant (which from above-mentioned record is 14 years old) is in open shade w/ moist, rich soil. But it has reseeded very happily to much dryer hillsides in very deep shade. I'm not sure how it would handle blazing sun, but it's extreme late season of bloom (October) might allow the blooms to tolerate our full sun better than otherwise.

This message was edited Mar 4, 2015 7:04 AM

This message was edited Mar 4, 2015 7:08 AM

I have all of my monkshoods in shade. I sometimes have to stake them from falling over due to the weight of the flowers. I planted a couple in the sun, but they died. The deer leave my alone. They just nibble on my rhododendrons that are nearby!

I also have several different aconitums in my yard, in fairly dry conditions. They grow well on the shadier side of my yard, but have up and died overnight on the sunnier side, even though it's not sunny for very long. The soil conditions are basically the same, so I really don't understand it. Perhaps it's the soil that came in the pot. On the other hand, I planted a really unusual aconitum last year that I thought had up and died, but I guess it just went dormant during the summer, due to who knows what - heat?, because it returned this year.

I also have to stake the ones that get really tall, as they flop all over the place when in bloom, so I much prefer the shorter varieties.

And I have to agree on the blue/purple thing. Plant people often seem to think they're the same color. It's so disappointing to buy something that's supposed to be blue and turns out to be purple. Blue flowers are some of my favorites, and purple my least favorites, so why do people call purple blue?

Amen, alta. You have my vote on that.