PlantFiles: Larkspur, Candle Delphinium
Delphinium elatum 'Pagan Purples'

I grew my plant from seed, and though the flower color is the same as those pictured here, the flower stem was not full but lanky. My neutral rating is due to the incredible difficulty I've had growing delphiniums.

It seems nearly impossible for them to survive the slugs. I've tried probably a dozen different techniques and chemicals and though these minimize the slug damage elsewhere, I can't get them out of the delphiniums. Tiny slugs live in the roots of the plant and travel up the stems to eat the leaves. This has been the case whether I grew from seed or purchased a plant in bloom. They can level a delphinium in only a few days.

My pagan purple delphinium produced one stem of flowers. It bloomed for a few weeks and was absolutely extraordinary in beauty. As it obtained 5' I failed to stake it well enough and a bird landed on the stem and snapped it off.

This flower had violet inner petals with deep blue outer petals. Despite the frustration and sorrow, I haven't given up on delphiniums because their color and form is utterly unique and my garden would be "less" without them. The "pagan purple" variety was particularly stunning.

I hope my plant survives its first winter - and if it does, I hope it survives the onslaught of spring slugs (but I'm not counting on it).

Great plant! Bought it in a 3" pot, it grew huge and bloomed its first year, survived the winter just fine, and bloomed even better the 2nd year... and it really is a full 6 feet tall (not 36-48" as indicated on this page)! I had problems with aphids on 'Magic Fountains' delphinium but not on this one (so far). It requires some staking because of its height, but the stems are fairly rigid and do partially support themselves. After blooming, it had new growth coming up, so I cut the old stalks back to the ground. It is currently regrowing and will probably rebloom.