Trial: Annual

Year Trialed: 2007

Good Qualities

Nice and unique color (6), darker pink and unusual stripe; More rose than "stripey", useful fresh and dried, primary stems were nice and long; Grew well tranplanted into tunnel in early spring, good color variety although customers did not appreciate as much as I thought they would; Moderately drought tolerant, no insect damage; Strong plants, disease resistant; 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; Frilly petal edges, petals slow to shatter; Did well because we had a cool spring; Rapid bloom, full flower spikes, remained upright without support

Problems

Would have liked longer stems and thicker stand, had to use support netting, laterals quite short, stems so slender; More disease issues than QIS mix grown next to it; I expected more stripes, but it was a subtle shading rather than a clear bi-color; Some seedling loss in the field but most survived and produced nice stems; 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

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; Not that we know of

Comments

It is a bit risky to plant larkspur in the fall in zone 4B but I think everything would have improved with a very early direct sowing- thickly placed!; 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; I'd like to see if this one does as well outside as it does in the greenhouse; Number of cuts were limited by late planting, planted both direct seeded and transplanted but no difference in harvest.

Postharvest

Using Floralife crystals. Using the cooler on hot days seems to shock the flowers when they are taken out and taken to market.