Trial: Annual

Year Trialed: 2007

Good Qualities

Great color (7); Strong plants that produced blooms over a long period, when others in the field succumbed to disease, these continued producing well; Really pretty; This series is easier to grow than other larkspur I have tried and all three cultivars responded the same, the only difference was the color, the colors were wonderful with deep rich purple, rose (even with the stripe) and blue; My customers love them, transplanted well and did very well in the greenhouse, no disease problems, sold every stem; Holds petals well, good height, 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, remained upright without support; Looked pretty much the same as the Blue Picotee but a bit earlier to flower; Useful fresh or dried, primary stems were very nice and long; Unlike the Blue, we didn’t have any shattering issues

Problems

This was more a straight lavender than picotee, there was a lightening of color towards the throat, but the color distinction was subtle; Some seedling loss in the field but most survived and produced nice stems; Does not germinate easily in heat and drought!; None; More disease issues that QIS mix grown next to it; Would have liked more height and a thicker stand, though the flowers are pretty, the stems are so slender – you pick and pick and pick! had to use support netting, laterals were quite short; Unlike the Blue, Purple Picotee showed about average susceptibility to powdery mildew, though I was still very pleased with the crop; 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; Color is similar to ‘Sublime Lilac’; Planted the Cannes series next to two other mixtures that I have had moderate success with and these three cultivars outperformed my comparison larkspur – this was one of my successes in the variety trial this year along with the sunflowers and kale; ‘Sydney Blue Picotee’; ‘Bicolor Sublime’.

Comments

We have a difficult time growing larkspur and will probably not grow it again. We need to get it in early in the hoophouse before it gets too warm; Great for bouquets, added a nice quality, easy to break tips of flowers off in handling but typical of any cultivar and not unique to Cannes series; Did direct seed this in spring and attempted to irrigate, but the 30°C days and no rain did not help us, we had heard from the breeder that it could be used as a fall cut, so we started them in plugs and transplanted, they were not irrigated and there was no rain, so the stems we got were not optimal – and not indicative of the variety, but, we loved the colour!; I’d like to see if this one does as well outside as it does in the greenhouse; We used all that we could cut in bouquets; Number of cuts were limited by late planting, planted both direct seeded and transplanted but no difference in harvest; Probably would have done better with an early and direct sow, wonder if it will reseed itself for next year? If I were to do it over I would direct sow, thickly, in very early spring as fall sowings can be very iffy here in zone 4B.

Postharvest

We just use plain water (2) and kept in a cool spot. See separate postharvest report for results from NC State University postharvest evaluations.

Trial Data

¹1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.

Supplier

American Takii
301 Natividad Rd.
Salinas, CA 93906