Woodland Park rose garden in Seattle has grown full-sized delphiniums. Many others are sold and planted here. Surely they have them at Butchart Gardens, in Victoria. Maybe someone at your nearest town has nice ones as well. I'd ask about cultural methods at a place like this. Doubt many home gardeners are liming theirs, but it could also perfectly well turn out that if you conducted your own little survey you would find out the people with the best ones were, in fact, doing this!

The thing about changing pH is it takes a huge amount of lime to change it even one point, each point representing a major gradation. If you put on enough to make such a change all at once it is hard on the soil system, so you have to do it gradually, over a period of years. Meanwhile, if your plants are growing without the altered pH anyway, maybe they don't really need it that much. Maybe there is actually another factor that is limiting them, rather than insufficient calcium.

Welcome Joyce!

I don't post here a whole lot....I am more of a lurker, I guess, plus I try to learn from others. And there are lots of cool people here to learn from.

Regarding delphiniums, I quit growing them after a few years when the slugs wiped out several that had just started to grow. I had them mixed in with the roses and they did look nice at first. Then the slugs and all of their sluggy friends found them..... Also it has become too shady where they were at (thanks to Mr Maple Tree) and I'm moving the roses. Plus I'm kinda out of room...

Anyway, hope you enjoy it here.

Wanda

I have delphs here that are many years old; they are somewhat heavy feeders so are top dressed with compost twice a year, and they appreciate regular water....not much drought tolerance. Mine were cut back hard about three weeks ago and are putting out a healthy flush of new growth...they should bloom again the end of August.

Pushing a stick of plain blackboard chalk into the soil next to the plant will provide a slow release of lime, use two or three sticks for a very large clump.

Welcome, I too am on central vancouver island and enjoy the myriad of plants that grow happily here. I grow delphiniums in our VERY acidic soil and they do ok. I topdress with manure and that helps. Generally, I am growing more and more things that the deer *usually* leave alone and leaving off the things that grow better in the east. It's great here.

Welcome Joyce and good luck fending off the wildlife- it adds a whole new dimension to backyard gardening.

I am 'ditto' Morz8 I have 5-6 year old delphinium, no liming, no chalk in acid soil and they are great. My second growth is springing forth with good watering and sunshine (finally.) The first blooms were spectacular with some reaching 8 foot heights, alas, they got beaten down early by heavy rains. But they CAN be grown. I also enrich my soil with plenty of compost and mulch with more of it.

Delphiniums prefer slight acidic to neutral soils, so yours should be fine without needing to alter soil pH. In fact, the popular Pacific hybrids seed strain was developed here in the PNW where our soils are routinely slightly acidic. They are heavy feeders so previous tips on top dressing or amending with compost or composted manures are right on the money. They like rich and evenly moist soils as well. They also tend not to be very longlived, so MorZ8's testament to well-established plants is a certan indication that they thrive in our climate, perhaps better here than in many other parts of the country (cool summers and mild winters).

I just joined the forum too and live on Vancouver island and look forward to learning and sharing with everyone.

Hi! I, too, live on central Vancouver Island and used to garden in southern Quebec. It's taken me 3 years to figure out how to grow good delphiniums here but this year they were great! Not as high as in northern B.C., but a respectable 5 feet, and I suspect they'll be taller next year. The secret for me is mushroom manure in Spring (after the worst of the rains so the goodness doesn't just leach away). My best ones get morning and late afternoon sun and I make sure they don't get dry - it can be deceiving that 2 days after a week of rain the ground can be very dry here!

Have fun with yours and don't give up!

Thank you for all your welcomes and advice.

I love the chalk idea. I did know about the slow release thing and this sounds perfect. I think I will get a soil testing kit and find out exactly where I stand. My zinnias are tiny and not blooming yet even though I started them in the greenhouse and I think acid might be a problem there as well. I guess the hard part in making a new garden is to make sure all the amendments are well mixed. I have many different beds and some are nicer than others.

Now I have discovered a new problem, let my lab out this AM and he sat there and watched a bunny scamper off. Oh my another customer for the all you can eat buffet.

Going out to get a box of chalk.

Cheers