Larkspur is Delicate and Excellent Long Lasting Cut Flower

If you love delphiniums but don’t have the patience it takes to grow them, these hardy annuals may cheer you up. Their flower spikes look like those of delphiniums, but are shorter and more delicate. Heights vary, but two feet is common. Colors are shades of blue, lavender, pink, purple, salmon and also white. Some are branched and some are upright. 12 inches dwarfs are also available. Plants have attractive fernlike foliage. The bloom period is not as long as it is for some annuals as flowers peter out before summer’s end; but larkspur makes an excellent long lasting cut flower. 

Moreover, if you want to grow Larkspur, then you need to sow seeds directly in the garden as early in spring as you can work the soil or in warm climates, in late summer to produce some growth on plants, which will bloom in early spring. In cold regions you an sow about the time of the first frost and let the seeds lie dormant in winter for early bloom. Seeds started indoors should be sown in peat pots and thinned to one plant for each pot to minimize difficulty of transplanting. Larkspur likes full sun but will take part shaded, and prefers part shade in hot zones. Plants in the garden should be at least a foot apart, in fertile, well drained soil. Keep roots cool with a light mulch, especially in hot climates. Tall plants may need staking. 

Lantana Heads are Clusters of Tiny Flowers in Shades of Red, Pink, Yellow and Orange, Sometimes all in One Cluster

Lantanas are perennials grown as half hardy annuals in most climates, or wintered over indoors. Lantana camera can grow as tall as 10 feet in very warm climates but is usually no more than three feet tall, and dwarf varieties no tall than 18 inches are very popular. Little round flower heads are clusters of tiny flowers in shades of red, pink, yellow and orange, sometimes all in one cluster. Alba is a white variety. Trailing lantana l. sellowiana is less hardy, with trailing stems and flowers that are usually combinations of lavender and yellow. 

Both are excellent container plants but are also grown in gardens, the trailing kind as a ground cover. Lantanas are warm weather plants. Sow seeds indoors in late winter because they take a long time to germinate. In warm climates sow outdoors in the garden, as several gardeners buy plants and then stem cuttings when they need new ones to bring indoors for winter display and for a source of new cuttings for the following season. Plants can also be dug up, cut back to five to six inches, and kept dormant in a frost free basement until early spring with just enough water to keep them alive but not enough to produce new growth. Source: Charismatic Planet