Delphinium

Ubiquitous garden plants, their tall spires of typically blue to purple flowers, during late spring and summer.  The individual flowers often have a long spur, reminiscent of Aquilegia and with their colour range and petal arrangement, they look rather like Aconitum. All of these genera are Ranunculaceae. As with Dahlia, many cultivated forms are available, some extremely showy, but we will focus on those closer to the species. D. requienii is a good, easy species to get started with.

Despite the toxins, the leaves of delphiniums are eaten by the caterpillars of some moths: including the familiar generalist dot moth. The flowers produce nectar within the spur, which is accessible mainly to long-tongued bumblebees and butterflies, with hummingbirds being important for some species elsewhere in the world. Many highly-bred cultivars have a flower morphology that restricts access by pollinators.