The tall growing delphinium hybrids dislike climates with much summer heat. They are not a long lived plant to begin with but tend to act more as an annual in areas with hot and humid summers.

From MOBOT: "Pacific Hybrids are short-lived perennials in warm winter/hot summer climates where they are more often grown as annuals. Prefers climates with cool summer temperatures. Appreciates some part afternoon shade in hot summer climates. Plants often struggle in St. Louis summers, and are generally not recommended for growing in hot and humid summer climates."

in other words.. where are you.. big city name ...

also.. some are biennials .. nondescript small plants the first year .. then the blow out show .. then adios ...

this is one of the reasons i quit wasting my time on them ... especially the tall ones .. in my MI ...

there was one smaller version.. blue butterflies was the name i think ... that reseeded itself in a nice way.. that i kept around for a few years ... but that was 30 years ago or so ...

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffcm&q=Delphinium+Blue+Butterfly&iax=images&ia=images

ken

My location would help, wouldn’t it?? :) I’m in Minneapolis MN with a full sun garden spot. I have the blue butterflies species too and that has done fairly well for me. Maybe I’ll just stick to those....

I have the opposite problem; The tall ones come back but the lovely little blue butterfly variety never do. I live in zone 5a, in sw Mich. Our weather is very flexible from polar blast one year to hardly any snow and mild the next. Same with summers. I replant the small blue ones every year as they are one of my favorites. I struggle with keeping the big ones from flopping and breaking when in full bloom. The tall one gets full sun from about 11:30 on. This is the third year it has bloomed. I did nothing to prepare it for winter, cut it back and mulched early spring.

They hate me. I love all of them and have never successfully grown them.

I struggle with keeping the big ones from flopping and breaking when in full bloom.

-->> thats the other reason i lost interest ... the high maintenance girlfriend of the garden ... pshaw .. i dumped her.. and i dumped you.. now get lost ... lol ...

ken

Yes, if you want them, you MUST stake them, tie them up, whatever......I have a Giant Blue Pacifica and it didn’t get staked this year before I went for surgery and half of the stalks just fell over. The other half was in the process of doing the same when Bert, my garden guy helped me tie them up yesterday. But all the tall flower stalks that easily reach 6-7 feet fell over early and my husband cut those off. The plant doesn’t receive a lot of sun, couple hours morning and then late afternoon. I have never had a problem with it returning in the spring.

debra

I found these NOID beauties today, I’m hoping they come back just as well...

I started these 2 months ago, pacific giants, they are starting to shoot up. Is it too late to plant out zone 6a Halifax, night temp close to 0C but no frost yet