DELPHINIUMS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLI, Issue 3, 15 July 1908, Page 40

DELPHINIUMS.

These stately’ plants are very handsome if they are grown in borders down both sides of a path. The long, bold flower spikes vary in colour from the palest sky-blue to the darkest shades of indigo, violet and plum; some are tinged with pink, rose, or even purple, and the pretty bee-like centres vary in colour from pure white to bronzy-black. If they are planted on either side of a walk, they look picturesque and majestic. They can also be grown in clumps or in tubs along the front of the residence. If grown in tubs they need more attention as to liquid manure and watering. The inside of the tub should be charred by burning shavings, to prevent fungus. Holes should be bored through the bottom for drainage and the outside should be given two eoats of green paint, which gives them a very neat appearance. Some fine gravel should bp placed at the bottom of the tubs, afterwards filling up with good loam incorporated with well-decayed stable manure, as this is essential to have large flower spikes of fine txeture. For a succession of blooms, directly they have dtone flowering they should be cut back and a mulching of manure forked into the surface of the soil; also give them copious supplies of water, and this treatment will bring about the desired result. When grown in clumps, slugs are apt to work havoc among them, but an occasional dusting of soot and lime will soon give them notice to quit. After the flowering period is over, coal ashes can be strewn over the crowns of the plants, to prevent the depredations of slugs during the winter and early spring. Delphiniums are very hardy, and will succeed in any ordinary gardten soil enriched with well-decayed manure.