Delphinium ‘Belladona Exp. Blue Donna’
go.ncsu.edu/readext?221479
Trial: Annual
Year Trialed: 2009
Good Qualities
Great blue color (4); Flowers were nice, germination was better than the other two varieties, strong stems; Productive in first year; Did not get any mildew even when all other belladonnas suffered, bloomed well first year from seed, healthy plants!; These were good quality plants that produced a principal stem and nice secondaries.
Problems
Little weak stems; Because of all the bad weather this did not get planted into the field when it should have, developed disease problems in the crates, would like to try again; Floret spacing on spike too wide, half of plants had died out by mid-September; No problems; Stems were not particularly strong and required staking, but I suppose this is usually the case with delphiniums.
Similar Cultivars
Other bellamosum types.
Postharvest
Cut early in the day, kept cool and also used Floralife, strip bottom foliage before putting into buckets, seems to help with absorption; No treatment; Water.
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 | 2.6 | 19.1 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.8 | 3.4 | 3.1 | 126 | 7.7 |
| Range of Responses | 1-6 | 14-30 | 3-4 | 4 | 2-4 | 2-5 | 2-5 | 36-324 | 6-10 |
¹1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.
Supplier
Fred C. Gloeckner & Co.
600 Mamaroneck Ave.
Harrison, NY 10528-1613
Comments
We had only 1 or 2 blooms before they died, it was very wet for us this spring and things suffered; Greenhouse grown; I tried a new compost mix which was too heavy with manure and destroyed all of the seedlings of these plants, I won’t make that mistake again!; Harvested 8/4 to 8/20 (planted in field 4/25, Zone 5); Initial bloom 24 inches long and 15-18 inch long secondaries; Cornell trial yield: 6 in field, 3 in tunnel, length: 18 inches in both tunnel and field.