Larkspur Limelight Carmine

Tall, elegant and bold, this is Larkspur Limelight Carmine. This annual makes a statement whether it is shooting up at the back of your border or in rows in a cutting garden. And those ruffled flowers, in shades of deep, vibrant pink with hints of red, attract bumblebees and other pollinators to your garden.

🌸 Flowering: June to August
📏 Height: 120cm
🌿 Annual

Sow: seeds should be 5mm deep and germination usually takes 3-4 weeks. You can direct sow in March and April or August and September where they are to flower. Alternatively, you can tray sow from February. Tray sowings can benefit from chilling before moving to 15–18C. Larkspur can also be tray sown later in the year and overwintered. Transplant seedlings and pot on as needed, then harden them off to plant out in May.  

Grow: once growing space the plants about 30cm apart. They may need staking.  They like most garden soils in either sun or part shade. Deadheading will encourage the side branches to develop their own flowering spikes.

Enjoy: these are bright and vibrant exclamation marks punctuating the green of your garden.

🏡 In your garden

•    Urban and courtyard gardens
•    Cottage and informal gardens
•    Pollinator plantings
•    Cutting gardens
•    Flower borders and beds

✂️ Cut flower

•    Fresh vase life 5 to 10 days
•    Cut the main spike when around a third of the flowers have opened; side branches should then develop more flowering spikes.
•    They can be dried very successfully. Pick when most flowers are open and before the lowest petals drop. Strip the leaves then hang the stems upside down in a warm, dark and dry space with good airflow, out of direct sunlight. They take 2 to 3 weeks to dry.
•    Dried flowers can be used in bouquets and arrangements or made into confetti.

🐝 Pollinator friendly

•    RHS Plants for Pollinators recommended
•    Bumblebees and other long-tongued bees love larkspur

💡 Did you know?

It's easy to see why Larkspur and Delphiniums get muddled. Larkspur is Delphinium consolida. The easy distinction in the garden? Larkspur is annual, while the familiar garden Delphiniums are perennial.

⚠️ CAUTION: harmful if eaten