The plant prefers sunlit areas, but shading from the midday sun is desirable to maintain a bright color. Most varieties are tall, with fragile stems, so they choose places protected from the wind.
Flowers are suitable for sandy or loamy soil, rich in humus, with moderate moisture. With high acidity, it must be limed.
Proper cultivation of delphiniums
Planting delphiniums and caring for them have a number of features. Plants are planted in late August – early September, so that they take root before the onset of frost. The distance between individual specimens depends on the species and variety, for tall hybrids it is 50-60 cm. When planting, the root collar and renewal buds are left at ground level, the seedlings are watered, and in dry weather, watering continues for several days. Before the onset of cold weather, the soil is kept loose and free from weeds.
Watering should be rare, but plentiful, followed by loosening the soil; in dry months, one bush needs 20-30 liters of water per week. Moisture is especially needed during the formation of inflorescences.
During the season, the plants build up a powerful vegetative mass and bloom profusely, they do not have enough nutrients introduced into the holes during planting, and they need regular top dressing. The first is carried out in the spring, when shoots grow to a height of 10-15 cm, using mineral fertilizers or organic in liquid form. In the second top dressing, during budding, increase the dose of potassium and phosphorus. For the third, carried out after flowering at the time of laying the buds of renewal, only phosphorus and potassium are used. Mulching with a layer of peat or rotted compost 2-3 cm thick has a beneficial effect on the condition of the bushes.
An important technique is thinning, which allows you to get larger and denser inflorescences. When the height of the stems reaches 20-30 cm, weak shoots are broken out at the root collar, leaving no more than 3-5. To improve the ventilation of the bush, the stems are removed from its central part. Thinning can be carried out in the fall, breaking out the extra renewal buds, this will accelerate the development of shoots in the spring.
Growing delphiniums in the photo
For successful cultivation, delphiniums need a garter that prevents both breakage of fragile stems at the root neck and damage to heavy dense inflorescences. The first garter is carried out at a height of 40-50 cm, the second – 100-120 cm, in varieties with massive inflorescences they are additionally tied in the lower and middle parts. At least 3 supports up to 180 cm high are used per bush.
If there is no need to save the seeds, wilted inflorescences are removed.
In autumn, after the ground part dries up, the stems are cut off, leaving a stump of 20-30 cm, which allows protecting the rhizomes during the dormant period from moisture and decay. Sometimes the hemp section is closed, covering it with clay.
Delphiniums are frost-resistant, under a layer of snow they can withstand up to -50 ° C, only in snowless winters they need shelter. In one place grow up to 5-8 years.
Reproduction of delphiniums by seeds: from planting to collecting seeds
Annual species are propagated by seeds, perennial species – by seeds, cuttings and dividing the bush. In the middle lane for all delphiniums, seeds are planted in March. Use seedling boxes and soil from humus, soddy soil and peat. The seeds are laid out on the surface, lightly pressed, watered and covered with a layer of earth of 2-3 mm. The boxes are covered with paper or other dense material, since germination slows down in the light. At a temperature of 12-15 ° C, sprouts appear after 8-10 days, after 30 days they dive to a distance of 3-4 cm. They are planted in open ground in April-May, young plants are not afraid of frost. Delphiniums from seeds of spring sowing bloom in August. Sowing directly into the ground in autumn or before winter is possible. In this case, in October-November, the seeds are laid out in grooves, sprinkled and covered with spruce branches. To plant delphiniums before winter, when persistent frosts set in, the seeds are sown in pre-prepared grooves, covered with dry earth and also covered. In the spring, after the emergence of seedlings, the shelter is removed. Planting delphiniums in autumn and winter is not practiced for varietal plants.
Delphinium in the photo
Since it is rarely possible to grow delphiniums of hybrid varieties from their own seeds, since their parental characteristics are usually not inherited, these flowers are propagated by dividing bushes or cuttings. For cuttings in May or August, young shoots growing from the root neck are cut off and rooted in the usual way. Bushes are divided in spring, 3-4 year old rhizomes are cut along the growth of old shoots into 4-10 parts so that each has at least one shoot or renewal bud and a sufficient number of adventitious roots.