I felt like we all might need a treat today – myself included. So I’m sharing a few pictures of delphiniums, one of the best loved cottage garden plants, as part of my pictures for dreaming series.
I tend to associate delphiniums with blue flowers, but a wide range of colours is available from specialist nurseries, including purple, lavender, pink, cream, white and bicolours.
Delphiniums simply beg to be combined with other plants. I didn’t catch Rosa ‘Lady Emma Hamilton’ (the orange rose) at her peak here, but Rosa ‘Scepter’d Isle’ (the pink one) is not far from it.
I wonder if there is a more classic combination than delphiniums and roses?
These delphiniums feature in a design for a courtyard garden and are (unusually) placed towards the front of the border, due to their compact size.
A pretty pink double delphinium next to the spiral topiary puts the giant purple ones into perspective. The tall ones make me smile, especially as wind has been up for the last day or so. Elegant, they may be, but they’d not last long without substantial support and they would look better to my eye if they were a more established clump. But ought I to ask more of such a splendid double? Their towers certainly made the garden much more memorable.
It’s tempting here to raid my files and share as many delphinium pictures as I can find, but I’ll content myself with just a few more. Delphinium ‘Walton Gemstone’ is a very pale lavender double, its greyish tones lifted by the creamy bee.
This classic blue delphinium has a lavender centre and a dark bee.
Finally, creamy white Delphinium with golden plates of Achillea filipendulina and – are those spikes of Veronica in the foreground, do you think?
Mmm. Dreaming of a cottage garden with a few of these in would raise a smile. And in our dreams, we don’t have to think about staking… or snails…
Susan Rushton 
Gorgeous! There is a Wild Delphinium (D. exaltatum) that is quite attractive – not as luscious as these, though.
The wild ones have a different charm.
New to your blog, I love this summary you have done, especially as I have just planted my first delphiniums, King Arthur, deep blue with a white bee. Already looking smart with Rosa ‘The Pilgrim’. I will hopefully write about them soon, but they need to grow a bit first! I think you are right, they are a perfect fit with roses, though that photo of the white ones with achillea and the black-leaved plant is spectacular.
So sorry to have missed your thoughtful comment, Sel. I hope your delphiniums have thrived in their first summer. The combination with R. ‘The Pilgrim’ does sound lovely – that’s my sweetheart’s favourite English rose. He loves the soft, pure colour.