I love those! I bought them last year at Home Depot. They couldn't survive our drought last year. I tried everything. I gave my Aunt one. She can grow everything, but she failed with them too. Any tips would be appreciated!

I love Delphinium too but I hate staking anything so I haven't added any at my new house. My boyfriend keeps carrying them around at the nursery and then putting them back so I expect some will find it's way here fairly soon. He tends to sneak and plant things when I'm not looking... that's how gout weed came to be in the front and back gardens. After much debate and backing up my point with postings on gardenweb, I finally got mean and ordered him to take it out the other day... and that's how gout weed came to be in the lawn along the new walk way.

I'll take Delphinium over some of his other craziness any day!

Oooh, good for you, njmomma! I love that light blue delphinum, too. While at a nursery for another load of mushroom compost, my eyes were drawn to a distant swath of various shades of blue: delphinium in all shades! So very tempting, but I've never had any luck with them here ... seems our heat and humidity is a bit too much for them. Maybe that one zone will make all the difference. Enjoy!

I love delphs. I plant the magic fountain series because they are shorter (3-4') and don't need staking. Here's a photo from yesterday.

{{gwi:231341}}

LOL Icyveins, my sis has 'Snow on the mountain'/gout weed/Bishops weed planted alongside her house. It was there when she bought it. For her however, it has not proved the least bit invasive. In fact it just barely hangs on. LOL

The varigated form is rather attractive. Too bad it is usually such a thug.

They didn't have a tag (go figure) so I have no idea if they are the shorter version or not. They are only 2+ feet so far. I had them in zone 5 and they did great so I think they should be okay here in zone 6, but we'll see.

gottagarden: I'll have to check out those Magic Fountains. That's a fantastic blue and I need some blue. They are gorgeous and the fact that they don't need staking is great. I hate staking... no matter how I do it, it still looks bad!

Paul: I used to call it "Snow on the Mountain" but that's just too idyllic of a name for that plant. It's really pretty but man can it get crazy! You know, my aunt has it at the campground (that's where the boyfriend got it in the first place) and it's just barely surviving there. He put it in my yard and it took off like a rocket!

Ack! Goutweed! I have some in my backyard bed too. No idea how it got there either. I tend to let unknown starts of stuff go for a while until I figure out what they are (that's how I got some coneflowers, snapdragons and candytuft -- I figure birds must have dropped the seed). Well, the first year it was just foliage and very small. The second year it flowered -- how pretty, kind of like Queen Anne's lace! The third year: Holy cow! It's everywhere!!!!!!!!!
Love the pics of the delphinium. I never planted it either because of having to stake it, but I may try the Magic Fountain type.