Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Flowers From the Garden- Larkspur

Larkspur usually starts blooming in Cary, NC around Mother's Day and continues through mid June or later if the temps stay on the cool side. Since we are experiencing way above normal temps it may be coming to an end. Be sure to look for it this weekend at the State Farmer's Market in Raleigh. There are several flower farmers there on the weekends.
Here's a close-up of pink larkspur in a sweet summer bouquet. More on this bouquet later- it has zinnias from my garden too!!!

I prefer growing the double flower form of larkspur which show off full blooms in wonderful shades of pinks, lavenders, purples, blue-purples, whites and even some bi-colors. Larkspur is VERY Versatile- I use it in fresh arrangements and bouquets and I also dry the flower stems and press the individual floral heads. The colors remain true for about one to two years. I used dried larkspur for a DIY project back in January and pressed flowers in April- Check the labels on this blog for these DIY projects. I will be doing more with these flowers later.
This sweet form has soft lavender-purple edges and white centers.
Here's a pink flower edged in purple in the garden.
Here is another shot from the gardens of purple and pink larkspur.
Going to Seed. I always let a lot of my flower stalks go to seed. I write the color of the flower on florist tape and wrap it around the stem with so that when all the petals have dropped, I will know what color I will get from these seeds next year. I dry the small pods out and remove the black seeds and keep them in separate envelopes until fall. Larkspur is planted in the South in late September through October. The new plants emerge in about three weeks and may even grow a little before frost. Then the little plants overwinter in the garden just waiting to jump up in March and bloom again next May. I will try to give instructions about planting in September.

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