Re: larkspur

In a message dated 11/14/02 8:46:08 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
genebush@otherside.com writes:


>     Thanks for all the tips. You guys finally talked me into an annual for
> my garden. Claire, you mention needing a bit of lime to do best. Do you 
> give
> your larkspur full sun of part shade?. How much light?

Larkspur will grow anywhere in my garden, some shade is OK.  The cut flower 
grower in Mass. where I sometimes shop had the best looking larkspur I have 
even seen in the North.  He told me he did not do well with them until the 
previous owner of his nursery/farm, a very elderly lady, told him to mix lime 
in the larkspur rows. I scratch lime around quite a few plants in the spring 
when I can remember to do so and larkspur is one of them.  Hellebores are 
another, any bearded iris, too.

We are in an acid soil locale so those plants doing well in a high pH, 
Dianthus the major one, will actually die without some pH adjustment.  So the 
lime does not migrate to other parts of the garden, we use plaster rubble or 
pulverized mortar in the planting holes for these plants.  This tends to last 
a long time. 

The larkspur will grow anywhere though, liking the gravel driveway best.  I 
have it bloom in both sun and shade.  The shady plants could be left in a 
thicker mass.  Larkspur does not like moist soil.  It might be a good idea to 
check the native location of larkspur.   Bill mentioned a dominant blue gene, 
I also have mostly blues despite what I plant.  You do not need to press 
larkspur. Just cut partly opened bloomstalks upside down in the the garage 
(away from sun) and they dry retaining all color.
Unlike Bill, ours don't germinate in fall, they do start very early in the 
spring and do the best when not tranplanted.

From the same seed parents I have had small and large plants.  I had one last 
summer growing in a very dry little cared for spot that reached five feet, 
made side shoots and bloomed for most of the summer.  I saved the seed of 
this one but I find variation every year. BTW, larkspur produces tons of 
seed.

Claire Peplowski
NYS z4

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