Larkspur Adventures

For years I've had larkspur in my yard. I'm not sure where the flowers came from. They weren't here (at least not that I remember) when we moved in years ago, but along the way the wind or a bird must have carried some seeds our way, and there's always been a small patch with a few odd ones elsewhere here and there. 

They're supposed to be somewhat toxic to rabbits, and though we have a lot of rabbits, they never touched the larkspur, or so I thought. Then, two years ago, I saw a baby(ish) rabbit nibbling away, and he (she?) pretty much ate the entire main patch of flowers. 

I've tried growing them from seed, but without much luck even though I've chilled the seeds (they require stratification). So...I figured that was it for my larkspur summers. But then something happened. I grow (as mentioned here many times) dahlias, and I've usually just planted and staked them. My husband, however, suggested that with all the rabbits and squirrels, maybe we should enclose them (a good idea, since a squirrel lopped off the entire top of one I had in a pot). So, last year we did that. When the dahlias began to grow, I noticed that there were also a few straggling larkspur plants. 

Larkspur flowers reseed themselves, so those that were protected in the dahlia enclosure, safe from rabbit nibbling, had plenty of opportunities to spread their seeds unmolested. The result is that this year I actually had difficulty finding places to fit in the dahlias amidst the larkspur (they show their first hints of green earlier than a lot of other flowers). Now, the two types of flowers are sharing space, and it looks pretty nice. I'll have to take care not to let them take over the entire space, so I can still plant dahlias, but for this year, I'm very happy. (Oh, one more note: they've gotten very tall, much taller than they ever did in the past, so I'm wondering if the rabbits weren't munching on the tops of them all along and I just didn't see it happening). 

Now if I could just figure out what's gotten into my Cosmos patch. I'm guessing earwigs or snails, but I could be wrong. Another mystery to solve.

Have a wonderful day! 

Myrna