Delphiniums – a cottage classic

Story by Steve Falcioni

Known as the quintessential cottage plant, delphiniums add that all-important verticality to a display.

Delphiniums are adored for their magnificent flowers, eliciting a captivating beauty with their vibrant spires. These perennials are a mainstay of cottage-style gardens, provide food for bees and butterflies and make excellent cut flowers.

The best-known delphiniums are the taller types, which produce flower spikes up to 2m tall. These can be grown en masse or mixed with other showy perennials. There are also dwarf-growing delphiniums (less than 60cm) that are perfect for pots.

There are more than 500 delphinium species found in the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere and a few in the high mountains of Central Africa. They are a mix of frost-hardy annuals and perennials. Most have attractive ferny leaves but there’s no question that, with this plant, it’s all about the knockout flowers! However, there are some species with slightly less flamboyant flowers, which might be more your thing. It’s important to note that delphiniums are extremely toxic and should not be grown if children or pets frequent your garden.

Give these delphiniums a try

CANDLE LARKSPUR (D. elatum)
Found across Europe and Asia, this plant produces large flowers that are densely packed on spikes up to 2m high. There are many hybrids, often referred to as the Elatum Group, including the Pacific Giants and the New Millennium series (also called Dowdeswell delphiniums). These are more heat-tolerant than the species form and come in a wider range of colours, with single, semi-double and double flowers. Some have a contrasting white or dark centre known as a ‘bee’.

SIBERIAN LARKSPUR (D. grandiflorum)
This is a shorter-growing delphinium from China and Russia with intensely blue blooms. The spikes, which reach 40–45cm, are branched and not so densely packed. There is also a Grandiflorum Group of hybrids, which includes ‘Blue Butterfly’ and ‘Little Blue Butterfly’ as well as pale blue and white cultivars.

RED LARKSPUR (D. nudicaule)
A North American species with good heat tolerance and shorter spikes (less than 60cm) of loosely spaced red-to-orange flowers. Yellow and pink forms are sometimes seen.

REQUIEN’S DELPHINIUM (D. requienii)
This is a Mediterranean species with soft violet flowers on spikes up to 1.5m tall. It’s very well adapted to summer heat and poorer soils.

BELLADONNA GROUP
This group consists mainly of hybrids of D. elatum and D. grandiflorum. The plants have open, branching flower spikes that reach around 1–1.5m and come in a wide range of colours. They include ‘Cliveden Beauty’ and ‘Connecticut Yankees’.