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How do I prune Delphinium Belladonna during the summer and prepare it for winter?
I found this but I am not sure what it means: After flowers are spent, cut stalks back to just above the first leaves for continued flower production. Remove old growth in fall after frost or before new growth begins in spring.
When it says "cut stalks", does it mean clip the whole stem just above the highest leaves or do I just remove the falling apart flowers, cutting them off from the stem?
Also, does "remove old growth" mean to cut the whole stem off above the soil or do I leave something above the soil? Or is it something else?
4 Answers
- ?Lv 71 decade agoFavorite Answer
Ellie, Delphinium Belladona is NOT The deadly night shade plant (Atropa belladona). I have several of BOTH growing in my herb garden and they are two totally different kinds of plants.
Now, as for the Delphinium, here in Northern Minnesota, the summers are too short to alow for proper pruning and recovery of the plant. I have found that simply allowing the plant to die back in the fall and removing all of the dead vegetation seems to be sufficiently beneficial for the plants. My Belladonna Delphiniums are more than 5 years old and produce lovely blue blooms from late July onwards until the middle of September. I have never pruned any of my Delphiniums at all and they appear to be as healthy as any that I've even seen. I believe the most important thing is to remove the dead leaves and stalks before the first snow, without injuring any of the tender green parts of the plant. Do not loosen any of the soils around the plant in the fall but rather, wait until early spring in order to do that and they should perform wonderfully for you.
Brightest Blessings,
Raji the Green Witch
- 1 decade ago
Well, there's the problem with common names for plants. I always maintained that deadly nightshade is Solanum dulcamara not Atropa belladonna -- which would just be Belladonna (though I suppose either plant will put you down for the big dirt nap in the right doses).
The intructions mean just what they say; cut the stalks down to just above the first leaves. You should see new budding come from the leaf axials. If you let it set seed, it will think it's been successful in reproduction and stop blooming. The technique is called 'deadheading' and is used on all sorts of flowers, from petunias to roses.
Delphinium belladonna is a true perennial, aften grown as an annual. To know how to put them to bed for the winter, you'd have to know how compatible they are with your climate.
Source(s): Botanist - 1 decade ago
Belladonna!?!?! That's deadly nightshade isn't it!?!?!
STAY AWAY FORM THE BERRIES
That's all i know, sorry.
