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Re: Sweet Pea Book for Christmas gift/ Delphinium

Hello Andrew,
    So many gardeners seem fascinated by the breeding lines of English Delphinium. Bit like a deer staring into a car's headlight... simply can not see anything else. There are native delphinium to grow. No, they are not the fully double, highly contrasted bee, found in the hybrids. But, D. exaltatum, for example, does not need staking and will grow in full sun to part shade. Average soil to somewhat poor. Compete with other plants. Forms clumps and will seed about a bit. Does not need to be watered during our extended periods short of rainfall. May not be quite as showy as the hybrid, but it is alive at the end of the season. And in bloom. Bloom period begins in July and goes well into November here if deadheaded. I have seen it in bloom during mid-December. Early blooming Aconitum and white tall garden phlox make wonder companions.
    Those of you not paying attention to the native plant grass roots movement are missing a goodly sized segment of gardeners. Those grass roots are no longer fringe groups. Native plants are big. Very big.
    Gene E. Bush
Munchkin Nursery & Gardens, llc
www.munchkinnursery.com
g*@munchkinnursery.com
Zone 6/5  Southern Indiana
----- Original Message -----
 
I'd love a great sweet pea book.  I've grown them soooo many times and I'm afraid it's one of those plants that the English do some much better with than us.  In the same class as Delphiniums.  Those of you who have gone to Chelsea and seen the Blackmore and Langdon's will understand.  But the sweet pea book that I'd like under my Hanukkah bush would be one edited by an American familiar with our growing situations.  But until then.....
Andrew Messinger
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