subject: These Beauties Come Indoors [print this page] One of the best methods for obtaining long-life bloom in your flowers is to make sowings of seed of "chinense" (Blue Butterfly) and the "belladonna" and "formosum" hybrids in early June near some well-grown clumps of delphiniums, for which one will be more than amply rewarded during those dubious fall months, with the intense gentian-blue of the Blue Butterfly, the turquoise blue of the "belladonna" and the delightful dark blue blossoms of the "formosum." And of course Mr. Watkin Samuel's Hollyhock must not be omitted. Its tendency toward a remarkably long period of bloom is the very quality that has made it so popular and widely sought after.
When looking over the flower catalogues before ordering seeds, it is a good plan to keep in mind the fact that there is a multiplicity of needs for an ideal garden and that the nurserymen can offer a flower for every need. For instance, one wishes to have the inside of his home as well as his garden brightened with the delphiniums' heavenly colorings, and accordingly he will find that there are varieties especially for cutting purposes. There are others for massing; there are even some for the rock garden. For cutting we are offered our lovely "belladonna" which we planned to sow for fall blooming, and the Chinese Larkspur, a dwarf species that has fernlike foliage and blooms of a gorgeous Copenhagen blue. Dull, drab interiors are instantly transformed when flowers such as these beauties come indoors.
The rock garden always welcomes "Grandiflorum minor," not even a foot tall, but making up for its lack of height with color intensity. For massing purposes there are the Gold Medal hybrids. Growing three to five feet high, decorative and important-looking with their flowers of various shades of blue, lavender and purple, masses of these hybrids in June and July always draw the eye-and hold it. A brave showing is similarly made by "Grandiflorum chinense," known as Slender Larkspur. It easily wins recognition as the best of the lower-growing types, and with its many unusually large flowers of pale blue, blue, lilac and mauve, well-one just can't resist it. From June until August, with this variety, lively blooming is assured.
Concerning this matter of massing delphiniums, it might not be amiss to mention that the up-to-date horticulturist does not indulge in arranging his delphiniums in sedate rows; neither does he mass them on a large scale as he was wont to do in days of yore. He has learned that exceptionally large masses of blue and purple may be deadening in their monotony; incidentally, since the art of gardening is now more studied than it used to be, he has discovered the need for contrasting form and color in his search for the picturesque.
