I'm not looking for the densely flowered spikes of annual delphinium that are sold commercially as Larkspur these days. I'd love to have some that are true heirlooms -- a more casual flower, not tight-packed, sometimes branching, many say the center looks like a rabbit's head.
I'll be happy to trade anything: http://members.gardenweb.com/members/exch/planterric
Want Old-fashioned, Single, Heirloom Larkspur
There is a larkspur such as you describe, which grows along the roadsides and in fields in Texas. It is white, pink or a sort of purple/blue. The foliage is delicate, and the plant grows to about 2 feet or more. It's in bloom now in some places, but mine hasn't returned this spring. I do have some seeds, but they are from last year or earlier. I don't know if one would call it heirloom.
Aimee -- I'm so glad to find someone who knows what I'm talking about! The colors are right. I suspect that they escaped from someone's garden a few generations ago. They might have evolved into a shorter plant in the wild (in gardens they often required staking, which wouldn't get them far under the rules of natural selection), or they might be shorter as many other plants are shorter in the wild. I just transplanted some wild-caught heuchera into a pot with rich soil, and, although the heuchera looked healthy before, it instantly doubled the size and height of its leaves and shot up more flower stalks than I can count.
I think your larkspur would be called a naturalized heirloom. I'm surprised it didn't come back in your garden; they are usually reliable reseeders. Did you have an unexpected refreeze after the weather had gotten warm?
The seeds tend to dry out over time, but I've gotten old seeds to grow by soaking for two weeks (or until the casings started to crack), then planting them. They came up very weaseldy, but the seeds they dropped have produced a small number of prodigious plants this year. Unfortunately, they are mixed with commercial larkspur -- I didn't realize at the time that someone had sent me the real thing -- so I can't be sure which is which until they bloom. I should have marked them when they came up (heirloom larkspur have more oval cotyledons while those from commercial seeds are nearly round).
If you would like to trade for any of my seeds, I would love to have whatever you can spare. I'll probably soak them, give them a chance to start, then stratify them in moist medium for at least a couple or three weeks (I wonder if I can rig a light in the fridge). I think they come back so much stronger the second year because they begin to germinate in the fall rains, then put down roots and start collecting strength for the spring. Which reminds me -- they have very deep taproots, which is the reason that they are difficult to successfully transplant. I'll have to make some tall paper starter pots that I can put in the ground with them.
I've wanted this larkspur for decades -- even to the point of searching over the land where my grandmother's house once stood, but I didn't find anything.
Thank you so much for responding. I'd be very happy to have this naturalized form of our heirloom larkspur. I'd bet the Seed Saver's Exchange would like to hear from you, too! Preserving our threatened heirlooms is their main mission.
Rik, these plants have returned for about a dozen years, and actually became almost a pest. I couldn't bring myself to remove them, so they were soon everywhere in the spring. But last year, I had a porch built where the largest number of them were. I had collected seeds in anticipation of this, but didn't plant them because of health problems which kept me out of the garden most of the past two years. I am happy to report that they are indeed back now. I just returned from a ten-day absence last night, and was totally out of touch with my "wilderness". I haven't seen any pink ones yet, and they are always a bit scarce, but today when I went out to check the gardens, there were quite a number of these blue and white beauties in several areas. Definitely not as plentiful as in previous years, but enough to get a fresh supply of seeds.
I am concerned, though, about the seeds. These are small, hard black seeds, and are to my eye almost round. I will be more than happy to send you some of the ones I have from my garden, and I will try to collect some from the roadsides as well. I never thought to check to see if the two sources produce the same seed. Now you have me curious.
I would love to help perpetuate heirlooms. I have long been concerned about the disappearance of old plants through modern procedures, and anything I could do to preserve the old ones is of interest to me. I have been lazy about persuing this, but you have rekindled my interest.
Email me your addy and I will send some of the old seeds. Later, when this year's crop seeds, I will send fresh ones.
I think I have what you are looking for also. They actually look like a soft fern, correct? If interested I believe I still have seeds from last years crop. I had pink and blue and the seeds are mixed together so not sure which you would get or both.