Delphinium, or Larkspur.
Everyone who grows any herbaceous plants grows some Delphiniums, because they make a fine background, and are such lovely shades of blue. Mr. Robinson says they range from one to nine feet high, but we think yours will probably be from three to four feet high, and that you should put them at the back of your border, with white Lupins, Starworts, and Evening Primroses. They flower in June and July, and make large clumps if left undisturbed for several years. There are two ways of prolonging their flowering season. You can cut off each flower before it begins to form seed-pods, or you can cut down the whole plant when its leaves begin to look shabby, and let it start afresh, as it did in the spring. But this would exhaust your plant if you did not give it extra food; so if you cut it down, it should have a little liquid manure. A teaspoonful of Clay’s Fertilizer to a gallon of water would do very well. Delphiniums like manure, but they will grow in almost any soil, and are easy to raise from seed—at least, the seed germinates easily. They can be sown in May if you buy the seed, or in August if you wait for your own to ripen. You sow them in a box, and prick them out when large enough to handle. When they are a year old they begin to flower, but a plant does not make a good clump till it is two or three years old. The culture of Delphiniums would present no difficulties if slugs were not so fond of them. In some gardens it is almost impossible to grow these beautiful flowers, because the slugs devour both the seedlings and the young shoots of the older plants the moment they appear. You must not put them in places where slugs can hide easily and come out at night to feed. If you want to increase your stock by division, you should do it either in spring or in damp summer weather, about a fortnight after you have cut your plant down. The autumn is not a good time. If you live in a cold climate you should give your Delphiniums a little protection in winter, but this is not necessary in most parts of England. Anyhow, when spring comes and open weather, take care that your covering of dead bracken or manure is not protecting slugs.