Good luck in your search, I also love monkshood but it seems to want more water during the summer than I'm willing to give, so always ends up dying a slow death.

It is very toxic but plenty of garden plants are. Yew and oleander are common ones which are extremely toxic if eaten, yet most people are smart enough not to chew on random plants.

I have two, the tall one which may be Aconitum carmichaelli (lost the tag), sounds like yours Rouge, my other is a bi-color, blooms much earlier and is shorter Aconitum x cammarum. The florists around here use a lot in their bouquets.

Annette

'Newry Blue' is supposed to be a good one. think it is 4ft and blooms a bit earlier though?? Sorry I can't offer more advice on that.

I love Monkshood and grow/have grown a number. 'Pink Sensation', 'Bicolor', 'Spark's Variety', one supposedly anthora but assuredly not. I've grown A. septentrionale 'ivorine' from seed as well a similar one I'm forgetting. I'm pretty sure my 'Red Wine' germinated too!! So excited about that.

Not to hijack your thread but .....does everyone else grow theirs in mostly shade? I've had anthracnose (what I believe it to be anyway) on the ones planted in too much shade. I'm leery of planting more because of that.

Pic of my 'Sparks Variety' with Nora Leigh just for kicks. Lovely plant if you find a partner it can lean on, lol

CMK

Lovely pic CMK, my bicolor has a habit of flopping too, must see what I have to plant next to it, maybe prop it up a bit? My Monkshoods get a bit of morning sun, filtered light in the early afternoon, and then shade for the rest of the day.
Annette

That is a crazy cool picture CMK!

The one tall Monkshood we have is grown in dappled sun ie very little direct sunlight and it does its thing come October. I can imagine that these plants would struggle in anything even close to full sun (unless there was readily available moisture).

(Are there some varieties of Monkshood that flowers closer to the base?)

Does anyone know where I can find "Blue Lagoon" dwarf monkshood?

Thanks much! I once had Sparks planted near some oriental lilies. They flowered about the same time and the sturdy lily stems propped the guy up. He's now planted in almost full sun...a few neighbors shading the base. It's planted in a slight dip too, so it likely stays a bit wetter.

-mxk3, we sold that cultivar at the nursery last year. Can't remember what supplier it was, but I could try and check on it for you. Doubt they sell outside of the PNW, but you never know...
CMK

CMK - yes, please do check for me - appreciate it!

And I see that "Blue Lagoon" is described as "blooming from the bottom up". (But it is too short for where I am wanting them to be planted)

have had stainless steel for a couple of years but excessively hot summers have held it back a bit. ordered sparks variety for this spring. the real wow i've ordered is thalictrum splendide-9 ft. tall with stems like purple patent leather-rochebrunianum and thundercloud have not flourished for me but we shall see.

-mxk3, looks like BL was deleted out of our system, so I can't tell where/when it was purchased. If I come across it again in our wholesale distributor lists I will let you know.

CMK

Ok. Thanks for checking on it!