help, I need somebody

Turns out I could use song lyrics for blog titles forever.

Today I ask for my dear readers help in the horticultural realm.

I LOVE delphiniums. Their graceful beauty has been nurtured in my garden, almost yearly. With plant clutched in my eager hand, I pay for one at the garden center every spring, with hopes high and dreams of blooms. And each spring, they refuse to pop back out of the soil to be enjoyed for another year.

This photo shows this year's candidate riding home in my truck, on it's way home from the garden center where I snagged a very mature plant for half price. Visions of a blur of giant delphiniums, like the ones blooming at Summerhill Farms every year, dance in my head.

While I like to pretend that I know what I am doing when it comes to gardening, my beds don't reflect much knowledge. My containers and window boxes are usually lovely, but my beds never achieve that whole cottage garden look I am shooting for.

I tend not to follow the rules of smart planting, I rarely buy more than one of anything (which may explain why I have never had a delphinium make it through the winter), and while I try to pay attention to heights and blooming times of perenials, I end up moving things a lot, and have a whole garden full of foliage at one point and then a whole garden full of blooms at another.

I am learning. I think.

Although I still only bought one delphinium. But I figure this is the oldest one I have ever planted, so it has a good head start.

Does anyone have any delphinium survival tips for me? (and can anyone tell me why blogger won't work right when I import pictures from Picassa? as this whole margin and spacing deal is driving me insane...)