I grow a lot of these, but haven't found them to be long lived in the garden. On the other hand, in containers I move to the shade in the summer when they are dormant and only occasionally water, they come back nicely. Delphinium nudicaule and D. luteum have lasted the longest in the garden. The species are a bit promiscuous and hybridize and seed themselves about as the seeds often open when they still look green and I haven't gotten around to dead heading them. But because of this I can have late flowering ones blooming in pots where I didn't plant them from seed that germinated once it started to rain in the fall. This year I had one species or another blooming from February through June. There are a few left, but they are definitely on the way out until the fall. I just grow the California species and mostly the coastal/foothill ones. The mountain ones need different conditions than I can provide. Some of them are dormant in winter (under snow) and need abundant summer water since they are found in wet places. The southern California species I have grown have dwindled as well. Mary Sue Mary Sue Ittner California's North Coast Wet mild winters with occasional frost Dry mild summers