Larkspur 'Sydney Blue Picotee'
Trial: Annual
Years Trialed: 2006
Good Qualities:
Great bi-colour (9); Strong stems (4); Clear blue edging on light flowers were favorites of my customers and myself; I would grow it again along with ‘Sidney Lilac’; Nothing unusual; Good stem length; Did very well in the greenhouse, we harvested main stem then had side shoots, sold every stem.
Problems:
None of the larkspur was a big seller at my farmers market; Color okay- but kind of mousy, it got lost and ends up being more a filler than focal novelty- color unimportant to me; Hard to germinate seed; Most of the plants were eaten by voles, a handful of plants survived and bloomed; More susceptible to ‘black root rot’ than other larkspurs in the same planting; Should be seeded in fall and very heavily; A bit shorter than the other larkspur varieties we grew; Plants got a lot of mildew mid season/cycle; We have pretty much determined larkspur is not a crop we can grow - we keep trying and using different practices but nothing seems to work; The stems did not mature to any marketable size, it would be necessary for the seeds to be sown in the fall here in my zone 6.
Postharvest:
Did tend to hold petals upon seed set better than KIS I also planted; Anything in the delphinium family really holds better with an STS treatment. Keeps it from shattering, so it lasts so much longer.
Trial Data
| Plants flowering (%) | Plants dead at end of summer (%) | Yield (stems/plant) | Stem Length (inches) | Market Appreciation Rating - Wholesale (1) | Market Appreciation Rating - Retail (1) | Market Appreciation Rating - Consumer (1) | Repeat Again Rating (1) | Ease of Cultivation Rating (1) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average | 3.2 | 21.9 | 3.0 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 4.0 | 3.7 | 85.8 | 8.1 |
| Range of Responses | 1-12 | 14-38 | 2-4 | 2-5 | 3-4 | 1-5 | 3-5 | 24-168 | 7-12 |
(1) 1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.
Supplier
Kieft Seeds
P.O. Box 618
Conway, WA 98238
www.kieftseeds.com
Comments:
This year was the best year I’ve ever had for growing larkspur, not sure why, but I had so much that I got sick of cutting it and all of it was gorgeous; We sow these in a furrow, 3 across a bed and don’t use any support, all larkspurs looked great this year; Sowed 2/13/06 in 200 cell tray, put in cooler 2 weeks; Because of the delphiniums doing so well, we are adding them to our greenhouse crop plan and also plan to have many more.