The orangey blooms of Delphinium Red Caroline immediately caught my attention in the nursery, but I knew the color was unlikely in this ...Read Morespecies.
Upon packing the plants into the car, I saw that one stem had already been damaged and didn't think anything of it. I placed the plants in the sun, watered them appropriately until planting day. The next morning, another stem was flopped off each of two plants, broken near the base. Same thing next day, and day after. By planting day, only one stem on each plant remained and it fell off when I got the plants in the ground. Enough! I asked for a refund from the nursery and refused new replacement plants. I figure there's something wrong with the cultivar, or it's diseased.
The break at the bottom on the stem isn't necrotic and only a little dried up. But the center of the plant has a dead empty hole, around which the stems had grown. No sign of galls or fungus or spores. The stems, which are ready to flower, appear perfect until they fall over. Saw no cutworms, insects, etc.
Does anyone have any idea what this can be? Genetic defect, disease or pest?
I planted my first delphinium last year - Red Caroline. I then planted two others after that, a purple and a light blue. Although this...Read More is the shortest in stature, the color really pops and draws a lot of comments. It is a really true bright red. It did return this year, bigger and better, much to my surprise.
The orangey blooms of Delphinium Red Caroline immediately caught my attention in the nursery, but I knew the color was unlikely in this ...Read More
I planted my first delphinium last year - Red Caroline. I then planted two others after that, a purple and a light blue. Although this...Read More