Delphinium carolinianum (Carolina larkspur) is flowering in my garden. Since seeing it in Texas, it has scurried to the top of my list of favorite wildflowers. The native stands out with unique form and color—lines of electric blue that pierce the hurly-burly of the prairie. To me it looks like rock candy. You know, the kind that you used to eat as a kid where sugar crystals surrounded a wooden stick? I ate it up then, and I’m eating this flower up, now. Currently, the colors I have in bloom are the prominent rich blueberry and fewer of the light raspberry and soft grape.
Delphinium carolinianum flowers are such a stark yet cheerful blue to see against the greens and golds typically seen in grasslands.
It wasn’t on the property when we arrived. I’ve been collecting seed from local populations, and it’s thrilling to watch plants I started from seed erupt into bloom. As the rachis elongates, it slightly sinews from node to node, each bend a place for an immature flower. As the buds develop, the long nectary starts resembling a horn, and upon unfurling I see the spur becoming a beak of a Belted Kingfisher; the flared petals to the sides are the wings and the two pointing down the tail.
It has taken two years to get the plants from seed to flower. I made the mistake of sowing the seed my first fall here before I learned how the winter shadows moved in our new garden. The spot received little sun. The seedlings struggled, and I thought all was lost when they vanished last spring. Imagine my delight when I found the little dissected leaves breaking ground last fall!
Before the cold set in, I relocated the plants to sunnier spots. Now, I and the fauna of my garden have been rewarded this year with blooms. I’ve watched the inflorescences sway from probing by Ruby-throated Hummingbirds by day and hummingbird moths by night.
But, this larkspur does have an ephemeral nature. Soon, the rock candy will dissolve with the heat of summer, leaving only seed behind. But, I will collect them, coax the seedlings along, and hope for an even sweeter show in years to come.
Pick your flavor. The classic vibrant blue, …
soft purple, …
or, a light periwinkle. Or, do what I do. Collect seed and you may end up with all three.