Polemonium 'Apricot Delight'

Polemonium 'Apricot Delight': Pink Blooms With an Apricot Glow

Bowl-shaped soft pink flowers with apricot-yellow centres, held over ladder-like leaves. 'Apricot Delight' looks like a peach smoothie somebody poured into the border. SIP SLOWLY.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Polemonium carneum 'Apricot Delight'
• Common Name: Jacob's Ladder, Salmon Polemonium
• Height: 40–50 cm (16–20 in)
• Spread: 30–40 cm (12–16 in)
• Flowers: Bowl-shaped, soft pink with apricot-yellow centres, held in loose clusters above the leaves
• Bloom Time: Late spring to early summer (June to July)
• Foliage: Deep green and finely divided, with paired leaflets set like the rungs of a ladder
• Features: Good for cutting

Where to Plant: Put it near the front of a border, along a path, or at the edge of a woodland bed, where the unusual flower colour can be seen up close. It also works in containers and rock gardens, and the stems are pretty in small spring bouquets.

Companion Plants: Verbena hastata 'Blue Spires' sends up slender blue spikes to 120 cm from July to September. Phlox Luminary® 'Backlight' adds white phlox at 71 to 76 cm over the same weeks. Echinacea 'Coral Craze' brings coral coneflowers that pick up the apricot tones. Jacob's ladder flowers first in June and July, then the others carry on through summer.

Plant Care: Plant it in moist, well-drained soil that is rich in organic matter. It handles full sun where the soil stays reliably moist, but in hot, dry spots it does better with a little afternoon shade. Heavy clay benefits from some compost worked in at planting time. Water regularly, especially through the first summer and during dry spells. Jacob's ladders sulk when they dry out. Trim the flower stems back after blooming to tidy the plant and keep it from seeding around. Cut the foliage down in late fall or early spring. Divide in spring or early fall if the clump gets crowded.

History: Polemonium carneum is native to moist woods and clearings on the west coast of North America. The name Jacob's ladder comes from the neat rows of leaflets, which reminded gardeners of the ladder to heaven in Jacob's dream.

Final Thoughts: Deer resistant, loved by bees and butterflies and handy in a vase. Climb the ladder. THE VIEW IS PEACHY.