Hoping to grow Delphiniums

I'm in the process of choosing plants for my new flowerbed and really love the look of delphiniums, but every experienced gardener I've spoken to has told me their efforts to grow them often fail because the slugs eat them. As a new gardener is it worth me giving them a try or should I wait until i'm a bit more experienced?

Thanks for any advice you can give!

Fyfy K

 

Hi
lots of other plants suffer as well with slug and snail problems but yes the slugs do love the new tasty growth , I am still yet to grow one properly , wind is my main problem and it end up in the flower spike getting broken and I hate to see too many supports around plants if I can help it .
Using slug traps with beer in is ideal and just keeping the area you are growing in very tidy I hate using slug pellets , but now use fresh brood coffee diluted down in to water and poured on the soil kills any slugs and snails in the soil.

they prefer a open sunny spot , once they get going the leaves toughen up and also you can spray the leaves with a garlic spray and that also deters the slugs and snails , I think @Lolimac has a good recipe.

Give it a go ...

Spruce

 

Thanks Spruce, so its just keeping the beasties off rather than the growing that's the difficult bit! Think i'll give them a go as i'm up for a challenge!

 

you may have spurned me on to have another go

 

We've had a go at them this year. We've never done them before but we've got a good few slug pellets around them too.

What kind of effect does the coffee have on the plants, and can it be instant coffee or freshly ground? We're thinking about running past maccies each morning to get any coffee grounds we can from them. They only bin them. Never gets recycled/composted. shame really.

 

It has no effect on the plants only the slugs and snails , freshly ground is best (cold)....not instant ....

I should ask in work about the coffee grounds and take a bucket in with a lid , as it makes a great mulch

 

I'd have thought if anything the coffee would give them more energy and make them shake their leaves much quicker.

Seems like freshly ground really is catching on.

 

I've grown mine on from tiny plugs to 1.5 litre pots in the last 11 months or so, and finally planted them out. I've put a pinch of pellets down- the area around them is very clear, so far they've not been munched.
3 have flower spikes forming, I've supported them with bare privet branches and twine to prevent wind damage. I'll post a pic when I'm home. Fingers crossed I get some nice flowers.
If they don't survive I've got another 4/5 young plants (3 grown from seed) in the greenhouse for next year. I think/hope they'll be worth the effort!

 

I didnt realise delphiniums were tricky to grow. That one is new to me

I was gifted some two years ago and stuck both of them in one trough shaped planter and have done nothing with them since apart from staking to flowers to give support and removing the spent flowers

Thinking i may have to divide them this year tho maybe



They are the ones in the plain silver planter

 

Go for it @Fyfy K ,I grew some from the seed swap parcel last yr,they germinated,i kept them in the gh over winter and have just potted them on to 11 cm pots,looking good as far not sure i will plant them out for another month yet at least,im wary of the slug attraction ! Do they flower this yr if i plant them? maybe grit n a tad of rock salt may help keep slugs at bay

 

Lovely garden Dips, and the kitty! I don't drink coffee, so might start stealing umm recycling the ground from the machine at work.

 

Thank you :-) cant take credit for the cat he belongs to nextdoor lol

 

they will flower this year Joolz

 

Just to inspire us a couple of photos NOT MINE though

Blackmore and Langdon are the specialist growers in the UK

http://www.blackmore-langdon.com/category/Delphiniums

 

The pic is so gorgeous I've just planted some seeds in the gh. I need this in my garden. I'll let u know how it all goes. The seeds didn't have their name on it so may need identification if I'm successful