Our Exciting new Chocolate Delphinium

After my last post about growing beautiful black bamboo indoors, I thought that I would keep a sort of theme going today and write about a stunning new nearly-black Delphinium that Wayside Gardens is featuring this year.  Our Delphinium elatum 'chocolate' is absolutely unlike any Delphinium that I've ever seen.  From several feet away, it's flowers look to have petals of the deepest, richest black.  When examined more closely, though, you discover a variety of colors on one flower.  From the bright lime-green at the base of the petals, it quickly darkens to the deep purple that dominates the flower.  It also has white flecks and slight pink spots.  It is a far cry from the more traditional Delphiniums, such as the popular Delphinium 'blue lace'.  It is also more heat-tolerant (hardy all the way from Zone 3 to Zone 10) and blooms earlier, but is no less attractive to butterflies.  Unlike most butterfly-attracting flowers, with Delphiniums you don't have to sacrifice beauty of your flowers to bring in butterflies, which is a big part of why they're so popular every year.