Florida Delphiniums

YES! Those cool-weather beauties known for their presence in English-style gardens are blooming in my front yard in sub-tropical Central Florida. Further, a self-seeded dwarf Hollyhock has begun blooming where the seed fell from last fall's display. I left the baby plant where it sprouted, and it is now rewarding me with that all-elusive, more temperate zoned beauty.

In Illinois it is not too uncommon to see Hollyhocks and delphiniums (the fuscia plants are still in their coddling stage in 4" pots) in the colder Zone 5 areas. Grandma's flower garden about 35 miles northwest of Chicago regulary rewarded her (and us!) with the stately Hollyhock spikes, many times growing over six feet tall! But people that "close in" to Chicago are no longer the gentrified folks of Grandma's day. True areas dedicated to artistically planted cutting gardens are rare or non-existent in most areas as the pace and distractions of life have exponentially multiplied since Grandma planted her dalias, foxglove (and I'll tell you about THOSE IN MY FLORIDA GARDEN in the next post).

Ah, but I digress from the above stated titles of Delphiniums... sorry. The King Arthur strain have done the best of the types I've tried. I love having fresh cut flowers in the house, so the "chore" of deadheading is no chore for me. My flowers almost never get to the stage where faded flowers must be cut. The flowers are normally cut and in the kitchen in a vase long before they have the first hint of a droop! One of these days (soon, I promise!) I will take some pictures of the delphiniums and the volunteer hollyhock and post them here as proof that these cool-weather, English garden types can be successfully grown, and loved, here in Central Florida!