The flowers on my plant are beginning to bloom. They resemble a larkspur, but the foilage is different. Last year I planted several tall perenial flowering plants in this bed, including larkspur and stock. There were several others, but cant recall what their names are. At least these finally grew. They are keepers and I love them. I did look on bing.com under "larkspur" and "purple flowers with feathery foilage" but did not find this plant in either one. There were a couple that were close. Thank you all in advance. ( photo / image / picture from AAnightowl's Garden ) The flowers on this plant are purple in person. ( photo / image / picture from AAnightowl's Garden ) These are some smaller ones just beginning to bloom, but you can see the feathery foilage easier.
They look like some delphiniums I have grown, so I would guess they are your larkspur. Aren't larkspur the annual cousins of the perennial delph? BTW, they are lovely.
I am not sure. The flowers look like delphiniums, but the foliage like larkspur. All my Delph's have palmate like leaves, not feathery foliage like these. At first I even thought the flowers looked like monkshood, but that was before I saw the feathery foliage.
I finally found a link with a picture that seems to match mine. See what you all think. http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=lar ... edIndex=19 This seems to be a match for both flower and foilage. I love larkspurs as much as delphiniums. I know I planted larkspur here 1 year ago this spring. The delphiniums that I planted were in another bed, and they never grew.
Definitely larkspur! A friend gave me some which I planted in the front bed. Now I have a swath of larkspurs there, and they are coming up in the herb bed and among the garlics. Thank you, birds! They do self-seed like crazy.
Yet another plant common name that gets people (namely me) confused. I have heard and read that Larkspur is a common name for Delphinium but Nightowl's plant isn't a Delphinium. So I did some googling. Delphinium is the perennial with the common name of Larkspur Consolida is the annual with the common name of Larkspur They are cousins from the same family but different Genus and therefore different plants....but both are commonly referred to by the name Larkspur. Nightowl, if you do find out which species it is, please remember that there 5 Consolida species in our data base so photos and information to the proper one would be greatly appreciated.
I have no idea what cultivar I planted, and I am not sure, but I think I threw the seed packet away last fall when I was housecleaning... I am so glad they grew! I hope they are the reseeding kind and go crazy here. I love them. I think perhaps they needed the cold weather to break the dormancy on the seeds ? I know some seeds need that. I remember buying several varities of lovely tall blooming flowers for that bed, including larkspur and stock. The stock and the others have not grown [yet?]. I used to have lots of Jerusalem artichokes in that bed, and they would get over 10 feet tall. My horse ate them. Thankfully, I had transplanted some to other spots around my yard, and I still have some if I can just keep my horse out of them. ( photo / image / picture from AAnightowl's Garden ) These are my Jerusalem artichokes growing in front of my old shed. The shed is very old, but you can see how tall they were.
Cayuga, all of the Consolida species are annuals. If you find a seed packet of Larkspur and the info calls them an annual then those are the Consolida because almost all Delphiniums are perennial. They will have the feathery looking leaves and according to one site I found they put out more blooms and bloom longer than their cousin Delphinium too. Also, to add more confusion to the mix, some sites I found list Consolida as a species of Delphinium instead of a Genus in it's own right. And the most common Larkspur, Consolida ajacis, is sometimes named Delphinium ajacis or Delphinium consolida. Nightowl, I am going to HAVE to get a Jerusalem Artichoke next time I see one. I want something for the front fence corner that is tall and 10 feet will do nicely.
Toni, it takes them several seasons to get that tall. I would buy several of them to get a head start. They do spread nicely and reproduce freely. I love the flowers, but not much on eating the roots. I am sure that all the flowers I planted in that spot last year were labeled 'perennial'. I much prefer perennials for most things, because they come back every year. As long as those larkspurs come back every year, that is great. I will be nabbing the seedpods when they ripen.
