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| I will start by saying that I am the amateurs of amateurs. My dad bought some flowers for my mom on mother's day. The delphinium is the only one that's really looking out of shape. I'm beginning to think that... maybe this isn't meant to be just a potted plant. But I don't know much, which is why I'm here. My dad has been trying to save this flower, but wanted to throw it out today, so I stepped in because I'm one of those crazy "life deserves every chance" types. He might be right and that nothing can be done.
I read somewhere that del's only need 1 inch of water a week. We used some miracle grow (about 15 minutes ago, in fact), thinking that it's low in nutrients because of something else that I read. Please help!!! http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z346/hollyr1986/IMG_0185.jpg
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Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by prairiemoon2 zone 6a/MA (My Page) on Thu, May 17, 12 at 5:22
| Hi delphelf...cute name. (g) I looked at your photos and yes, those are delphiniums and they are past bloom. You are correct, they are not meant to be potted plants. They are normally perennials as part of a perennial planting in a bed. I wonder if the plants looked this way before you added the fertilizer? The Miracle Grow will not have helped if so and could have hurt. Not a Miracle Grow user, so not sure. Maybe someone else can address that. At any rate...if you really want to try salvaging them as plants, you are going to have to plant them in the ground in conditions that they need and allow them to recover on their own the rest of the season. Since they don't look good, if you have room in the back of a perennial bed out of sight, that would be good. I would remove the yellowed dead looking leaves, plant them, water them and leave them alone and see how they do. You might even want to provide temporary shade in the form of a well positioned lawn chair for a few days. I see one plant has developing seed pods which I would be excited about. If you plant and allow them to keep growing, the seed pods, might ripen and you could collect seed and start more plants. I hope you realize that they are not going to bloom this season again. If you try to save them and you remove the dead leaves and learn how to take care of them, they might grow new foliage this year but they won't bloom. They should winter over for you and come up again next spring and bloom next year. |
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- Posted by echinaceamaniac 7 (My Page) on Thu, May 17, 12 at 7:17
| If you are in a hot zone, these won't grow. I don't know what state you are in, but I'm in West Tennessee. The summers here are too much for these plants. Lowes and other places have started putting tags in them that say "Annual" so people can no longer get a refund when they die in the summer. |
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- Posted by Dzitmoidonc 6 (My Page) on Thu, May 17, 12 at 10:06
| I love Delphinums. They like night time temps below 60F, the cooler the longer they will last. For Zones warmer than zone 5, you need to plant them not in full sun (shade after noon is best), keep them on the moist side, and hope for the best. Here in zone 6, I have managed to get 3 years from them, but really only 2. Two years of decent bloom, one year of puny plants with about 8 flowers. The next year, nothing at all. Sigh. Dad is probably right on this one. |
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| In southern Ontario delphiniums are considered short lived perennials. They lose vigor and decline if not divided every three years or so, and even then probably won't last longer than 10 years or so. The secret seems to be to plant some new ones every few years to keep a patch going. Jan |
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| I'm in a zone 7, and some of my delphiniums are older than 10 years now, without ever being devided, getting bigger and bigger. The secret is in choosing the proper ones. I have written about it in several threads now. Just drop all the seed strains beginning with Pacific or Magic Fountains. They are just UTTER RUBBISH!. They have never been bred to be long lived. Try seed strains from German hybridizer Karl Foerster, based on Delphinium elatum, without any admixture of genes from short lived Californian species. |
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| Here is a picture of a proper Delphinium clump. 30+ shoots. Believe me, there is a big difference between looking at a big clump with multiple flowering stalks and a pitiful 1-2 stalk clump of a Knight of the Round Table(from the Pacific series)
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Fri, May 18, 12 at 10:14
| wies, that's the best looking Delph I've ever seen - fantastic! Are the different types you're talking about distinguished by the leaves? The few plants that ever came back a 2nd year for me (in OH, 5b) had leaves like yours, what I call fat, and with a less smooth texture. The ones that never showed back up had thinner, smoother, more fern-like leaves, more like larkspur. |
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- Posted by delphelf86 none (My Page) on Fri, May 18, 12 at 11:23
| Thanks for the help, everyone! Man, I wish I had a good book to read about perennials - or just flowers in general. I live in North Georgia, so there's not really a wide selection of places to go - my dad bought this delph at Wal-Mart. I will update him on all of this! Thanks again! |
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| delphelf, check seed sources. Seed of Delphiniums can be sent across borders without permission as far as I know. Check B&T World Seeds, Jelitto had it last year. Purpleinopp, there is not much difference in leaves of Pacific hybrids and Foersters hybrids. The finely cut leaves you've mentioned belong to Belladonna hybrids(as far as I recall they have some genes from Delphinium grandiflorum, hence the thin leaves). I have had 4 of them , of which Piccolo is the best(does not flop, 6 years old), Volkerfrieden has a little thinner stems, Atlantis is dark blue and a slower grower. I had also the 4th variety(forgotten the name), which was pushed onto the market some years ago. It was a mutation on Volkerfrieden with white stripes on the petals. It died after one season. |
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- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Mon, May 21, 12 at 11:35
| Interesting stuff about these excellently pretty flowers, thanks wies. I haven't seen any since moving to AL but am sure I would be lured by their beauty into giving it a shot if I see plant or seed. Not a mail orderer. delphelf86, (cute name, btw) I have a shelf of various gardening books which I rarely consult except to browse the pretty pics, or to find a quote I want to share. The one that I've gotten the most use of is Botanica's Annuals & Perennials: Over 1,000 pages and over 2,000 plants listed (no author listed) by Laurel Glen publishing. At the time I bought it (1999 I think,) the internet resources were far less numerous and comprehensive than they are now. Since they've also started renaming plants due to genetic research, unfortunately reference books are becoming obsolete. People refer to The Well-Tended Perennial Garden by Tracy DiSabato Aust as "the bible." Written in a cooler zone but the general bulk of the info is pertinent, a comprehensive overview for beginners. One just needs to adjust the timing to suit the habits of the plants in a different location. I've not found myself with the need or desire to consult this book much after reading it through. Your library should have one and it should be easy to find one if you want to own it. The collection of pictures is excellently informative. Comprehensive, narrowly-focused books seem to stand the test of time in conjunction with the WWW. I have one about variegate plants that I open often. And one about 'everlasting' flowers. I used to subscribe to several gardening magazines (and collect others from stores) and didn't think they were worthy of moving at one point. Now I really miss them and realize it doesn't matter how old they are, the pictures are always pretty, inspiring, and most articles are timelessly relevant. They are an awesome resource if you don't throw them away! An easy way to collect pics & info in small monetary increments. |
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- Posted by prairiemoon2 zone 6a/MA (My Page) on Mon, May 21, 12 at 19:29
| delphelf, if you are looking for a good book, there are always tons of gardening books at the library. A couple of years ago, they started a list of recommended books on the New England Gardening forum, maybe you would see something there that sounds interesting....here's the link.... |
Here is a link that might be useful: Recommended Gardening Books
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