Trial: Annual
Years Trialed: 2007Good Qualities
Attractive clear pink color (8); Good stem length, florets not shattering; No major insect damage, drought tolerant; Easy to grow; Excellent to dry - keeps color; Uniform size and harvest time; Grew well transplanted into tunnel in early spring, good color variety although customers did not appreciate as much as I thought they would rapid bloom, full flower spikes, remained upright without support; Good germination, no pests; Full heads, strong stems.Problems
Weak plants, susceptible to disease, flowering along the stem was not uniform; Not quite a big enough deal - blue sells better for me; None; I just can't seem to get larkspur to grow, a few seeds germinated but the plants didn't grow, I have tried any number of methods to get larkspur to grow, no luck; Too small to be profitable in bunches or bouquets; More disease issues that QIS mix grown next to it; First time growing larkspur in high tunnels, it eventually germinated in mid-April, rather erratically and after we’d given up hope, I transplanted young plants to consolidate space without any adverse effects on crop, we sold a couple of bunches but overall the stems were too short which I think was due to erratic germination, no pest or disease problems.Similar Cultivars
Not that we have grown; Similar color to ‘Giant Imperial Pink’ or ‘Dark Pink Sublime’.Postharvest
Plain water; Floralife. See separate postharvest report for results from NC State University postharvest evaluations.Trial Data
| Yield (stems/plant) | Stem Length (inches) | Market Appreciation Rating¹ | Repeat Again Rating¹ | Ease of Cultivation Rating¹ | Average Spacing (in2) | Average Postharvest Life (days) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wholesale | Retail | Consumer | |||||||
| Average | 3.3 | 25.8 | 4.0 | 3.5 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 3.6 | 66 | 6.5 |
| Range of Responses | 1-12.5 | 14.5-42 | 4 | 3-4 | 2-4 | 1-5 | 2-5 | 4-144 | 5.5-8.5 |
¹1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.
Comments
I cannot seed larkspur in the spring and get any length, I waited until this fall to seed with my other larkspur and will submit report next spring, 2008; Too small sample size for thorough evaluation; We started this very late so it didn't get a fair trial, I would plant it much earlier next year if we grow larkspur; Number of cuts were limited by late planting, planted both direct seeded and transplanted but no difference in harvest.