On 5 Jun 03 at 21:58, John Ingram wrote re Delphinium nudicaule: > Another question, have these ever been hybridised with the "modern" > Pacific Giant strain to produce a heat tolerant, "So Cal sun" > tolerant, drought tolerant plant and if so, why is it not in our > gardens? A Dutch horticulturist spent many years trying to breed true yellow, pink, and red garden delphiniums, crossing Dd. zalil, nudicaule and cardinale with the usual blue/white garden strains. When he retired, perhaps twenty years ago, the breeding stock and program were moved to the RHS garden at Wisley. IIRC, there were significant genetic barriers to crossing these various species -- different chromosome counts and such. Moreover, the best plants proved difficult or impossible to propagate vegetatively, even using tissue culture techniques. I haven't read anything recently about this program and do not know what its current status is, though I believe at one time seed was released for trials. Also note that the focus of the program was on color, not heat- and drought-tolerance. -- Rodger Whitlock Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate on beautiful Vancouver Island