13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials

As far as I'm aware there are no vegetatively propagated delphiniums in US (corect me if I'm wrong), so it can only be a seedling plant of some seed strain, and there have been plenty of them in recent years. If you were from UK, you could choose among tens of varieties that fit the description.

You can check some seed catalogues like Jelitto or others, they list tens of seed strains in all possible colours and color combinations(see Moonlight Blues).
A warning: contrary to what they write, do not expect selfsupporting plants from any of those Millenium series. It MAY happen, but it is not a rule.

This post was edited by wieslaw59 on Thu, Jun 20, 13 at 7:54

Hi Blan,

I did a little bit of google research ('delphinium blue with black bee') and found that there is a blue Delphinium with a black bee in the Excalibur Mix.

Also, Bluestone Perennials has a Delphinium cultorum 'Dark Blue Dark Bee'

I noticed a few postings for Delphinium 'Black Knight' that also appears to fit the bill.

Best of luck,
Steve

I have several in conditions ranging from sun to part-shade. Soil is definitely clay but with a few years of compost and mulch to lighten it somewhat. Great plant but it will seed about...the seedlings are very easily identifiable and quite cute and transplant easily. I tend not to like the flowers in some locations and in any location when they are looking ratty I cut them back to expose the inevitable flush of tidy growth underneath, which quickly fills out and looks attractive for the rest of the season.

I, too, have them in sun, shade, part shade, etc. They thrive everywhere. In really dry summers the plants in full sun will get ratty, but cutting them back makes them grow back nicely.
I'm actually starting to consider them invasive...they have self-seeded all over the place. I've given lots away, and pulled others up and basically just plunked them in bare spots.

Continuing with marquest's theme of using plants with colored foliage to bridge all of the awkward bloom gaps- tancenetum Ilsa Gold, weigelia My Monet, sedums Purple Emperor, Picolette & Autumn Charm.

I have a siberian iris, I forgot about it. It didn't flower this year-then again, neither did all but one dutch iris. I got them all last season, so I guess I'll wait another year to see what colors they are, lol.

Also in the non-blooming catagory is my only Huechera. This is year #2 for it and it didn't bloom last year either. I got it as a humminbird plant, and instead I have a foliage plant! (it's Melting Fire I believe). I would have a bed of them instead of one of the hosta beds I have, but they aren't as popular and hence more $$ (I got a bunch of hosta free via divisions and people wanting to get rid of them).

My baptisita is done, and the lupine is still flowering but I can't put them in the main bed due to wind :(

I have two honeysuckle-Major Wheeler and Goldflame, but I haven't space for climbers in the main bed. Which also excludes clematis (I have a purple that's blooming, no idea of the variety, it was a freebie).

Are there non-flopping no ant attracting peonies?? I love the look when they aren't on the ground. They would need to go back in the bed a little so staking would be a pain (trying not to step on anything else). I have garden junk, but not in this bed, so the seatless chair idea won't work :(

I forgot to mention this is a mostly sunny bed, and it's a cottage style with no space between plants, so floppers don't work too well (I do have some spiderwort in another bed that was here and it keeps flopping all over the phlox next to it).

Thanks for all the suggestions!

I've been thinking about rose campion...I passed on it because of the silvery foliage (I can't stand lambs ear or dusty miller) but maybe it's time to give it another look.

Rouge, lots of good info above. Mine are in a shadier site with some afternoon sun. I have them at the edge of a shade border set on their own a bit. Since they're on the edge, once they die back the edge just becomes a little wider. They're also more visible at the edge of the border. These little plants would be great up on a wall somehow where they are closer to eye level. Even as dainty as they are, if they're sited well in the border they will be noticeable. I bought a double white one this year and I'm curious to see how that performs. It is sited in a little bit more sun.

They started blooming in late April and 'Shoaf Double' has one bloom left on it. You get a solid 4 weeks of nice bloom. Mine usually do not die out until August timeframe (if I'm remembering correctly). Didn't make an exact mental note on when they die back.

Expensive little buggers, but I think worth it. I tend to spend big bucks on shade plants that really appeal to me and these were right up my alley.

lots of good info above.

Definitely. Thank you so much for all your help ispahan.

You get a solid 4 weeks of nice bloom.

That's a nice long bloom duration for a plant that will go dormant.

Expensive little buggers, but I think worth it. I tend to spend big bucks on shade plants

Good reasoning.

And it is quite pricey ( $24 for a plant from the source I have in mind).

UPDATE:

I was able to see a couple of "Anemonellas" at the nursery which were actually in the ground and they were so small (even though they were a few years old). Definitely a plant that must be admired very close up.

This post was edited by rouge21 on Mon, Jun 24, 13 at 13:50

Walker's low is a blooming machine! I find mine has seeded, though, so it can't be sterile. Not enough to be obnoxious: just enough to make me happy. I now have several. I try to put a low cage around it (made from the top portion of an old tomato cage) before it starts blooming to prevent the flop.

Give it lots of space, though.

Walkers Low does not like a lot of water. I have it down at the end of my driveway bed, usually a good spot for it, slightly raised bed, fairly dry. However, when we get a rainy season, there's running water and splashing water and it will nip it back or kill it back. I just trimmed about a third of the plant back the other day.

It does spread some, but it hasn't been horrible.

well yes, Kevin....but with some plants, within the clusters of flowers, some are actually going into seed while others are still blooming - totally impossible to tease out the minuscule green blown flowers while others, tight up against them, are still doing their floriferous thing....and worse, polemoniums, like primula, pulsatilla, hellebores and some geraniums, set seeds which will germinate immediately even though soft and green. Once dry, they will go into dormancy but even dead-heading regularly will fail to catch every wayward seed from sprouting.

I do have to say that yours look particularly colourful, attractive and garden-worthy. Mine look much rattier.

Kevin, I'm actually the world champion in birth control by deadheading. (It's I who preach it for others). But in the case of Polemonium and Tradescantia you would have to spy on what individual flowers are doing, which is far beyond what I want to spend my time on.

Here it is listed as Potentilla thurberi Monarch's Velvet. I had the straight species P. thurberi. It was actually the best standing-up potentilla of them all. The problem with this plant was that the flowers are just too small and too few at a time to be effective for that dark colour.(one of those plant you have to look for to notice)

Thanks so much! Now I know how to site it. If it sprawls or scrambles that explains the width stated by the Missouri Botanic Garden. Of course the picture on the tag shows it covered with flowers, as did most of the shots I found online. I love red, so plants that are red (or wine, or similar) tend to land on my cart even if I know nothing about them.

It was only a quart, and not expensive. IâÂÂm glad I didnâÂÂt pay more. Cinquefoil is probably just the common name: both were on the tag.

Lilyfleur, burying hardware cloth all around a garden bed sounds like a lot of work, but it would probably work. You could try putting a rock or brick border around the bed. Voles like to travel through loose soil close to the surface and they don't like rocks or gravelly soil. They will turn in another direction if they encounter rocks.

Not sure if it is foolproof, but so far the voles have never bothered any plants that are in my foundation beds, which are bordered by either a stone pathway or bricks.

Hey rouge, I wonder why your H. Lemon Queen is so well-behaved? My patch is now about 8 feet long and 4-5 feet thick. It was about that big when the voles ate most of it. It spreads into the daylilies and I have to pull a lot of shoots out each year.

I am trying to look on the bright side terrene in that your very large stand must look spectacular in the fall!

I may have underestimated the width of mine....probably closer to 3.5 feet. But it is all together. I have never seen any stray seedlings away from the main clump.

This post was edited by rouge21 on Tue, Jun 18, 13 at 12:27

The white one for me wasn't too aggressive compared to any other perennial. The standard purple one (don't know the variety) is aggressive and have to keep an eye on it. It's loosing the battle with a clumping bamboo though so it can't go too far. Any remnant of the runners that you leave in the ground will start up new plants but the are easy enough to pull.

The white flowered Physostegia virginiana/obedient plant Is probably P. "Miss Manners". I had it for several years in a bed and it did not spread at all. It finally died out after two or 3 years of gradual decline. I liked the plant, but it never had the vigor of it's pink invasive relatives.

I have a similar problem with bindweed growing among my perennails and through some of my low growing evergreens. This is the solution I came up with to apply Roundup - Tear off a piece of aluminum foil, line it with paper towling, curl the foil around the vine part way,stuff as much of the vine as you can into the packet (I liken it to putting a hotdog in a bun), spray the weedkiller inside the little packet, close it up tightly. In day or so you can remove you little foil packet, making sure the foliage has absorbed the spray and is completely dry.

My experience with this plant is that it is more prostrate than trainable. It isn't really noticeable until your bike tire goes flat or you step on it. So it sneaked up on you. It is said to be an annual at your temps, so that means it should be easier than bindweed for you. One thing I would do is make sure that it is exposed all winter so that it really is killed. So really focus on and get out all those plants that are going to be protected by your wanted plantings. I would get a good hoe and use it all spring, learning what the baby plants look like so I can get them all out early before they seed. A good hoe and diligence early on is the safest and cheapest remedy.
I have never had someone using glyphosate near me kill my organic garden, but I have had someone take it out using Trimec which contains 2,4d. It is notorious for drift, so be sure if you use an herbicide you follow directions and read the label and be thoughtful. It is really sad and maybe even frightening to see your peonies turn brown in one day, your tomatoes and squashes all distorted. And Ken, I think plants can be pests. I think herbicides can be pesticides, but not all pesticides are herbicides. You just have to get the pesticide for the job you are trying to do. Read the label even if it is tortuous.

Smart thinking Kevin but I never cut my peony blooms to bring indoors. I want to enjoy my garden, aesthetically, olfactorily (sp?) and visually, actually IN my garden and don't care to bring it inside the house. Can't cite a specific reason but flowers indoors have never held any appeal for me [just a personal choice here, no editorializing intended]. I am impressed with those sturdier support rings and may issue a challenge to my I-love-to solve-garden-problems son to construct something similar for my own use.

Peonies are and always will be valued in my perennial beds no matter how they behave. What's not to love? Gorgeous foliage that's unaffected by pests from early on right through frost, gorgeous, fragrant blooms & little to no maintenance. At most I dump woodstove ashes on them in January each year.

I am addicted to peonies. I don't think I could ever have enough.. these ones I bought from a table outside someone's house around the corner so I've no idea what they are.

It won't rebloom ime but a good clipping keeps it neater. It's a bit of a thug.

Agreed with all of the above. You can deadhead it by grabbing the spent stems and just pulling it out. This also lets you keep the plant in bounds a bit. If you've got tons of it, you can weed whack the old flowers. Whatever you do, don't feel compelled to baby it. It goes through a bit of an ugly phase post-bloom, but it bounces back fast to be a pleasing mat of soft foliage for the rest of the year. It's one of the few seedy plants that I'll still allow here.