Aconitum henryi Sparks Variety

The Aconitum henryi 'Spark's Variety' is a giant perennial aconite, with fleshy roots and a somewhat ungainly habit. This horticultural variety of Chinese origin chooses the end of summer and the beginning of autumn to display its ramified spikes adorned with flowers of a very deep violet-blue, in the shape of a helmet. It bears thick glossy leaves on somewhat voluble stems. This favoured host of cool and rich soils is a reliable and floriferous plant, perfect for occupying the back of perennial beds, against which it often leans. All parts of the plant are highly toxic.

This old horticultural variety, considered a form of Aconitum henryi, was named by Prichard in 1898. The wild species is native to southern China, where it colonizes forests and thickets in medium-altitude areas. It belongs to the family of ranunculaceae. This perennial produces more or less voluble and flexible stems. Erect, they bend if they do not find a support to cling to. Its helmet-shaped flowers, dark violet-blue to deep midnight blue, as wide as they are tall, appear in September-October. They are very ramified terminal panicles, grouped in short racemes at the ends of the branches. This plant develops from a fleshy and tuberous root from which an erect tuft of slightly hairy stems emerges in spring, adorned with coriaceous leaves, tripartite and cut into 3 to 5 lobes. They are deeply veined, a very dark green in colour, with a pubescent underside. The flowering plant measures at least 1.45 m (5ft) in height, with a width of 30 to 40 cm (12 to 16in).

Aconites suffer from a bad reputation in the garden, due to their legendary toxicity, and it is quite regrettable because they have their place in every garden. They are robust, very hardy, and their foliage is among the most beautiful among perennial plants. Not to mention the blue of their flowering, an incredible blue comparable to that of gentians or delphiniums. They are perfect at the back of beds, among grasses like Miscanthus or cortaderia, against which they will lean, in the company of asters and chrysanthemums for magical autumn scenes. They can be planted among bushes, sheltered from the wind, which sometimes bends their stems, in the company of Japanese anemones. They are also very beautiful in front of the autumn foliage of Persian parrotia or liquidambars. Like foxgloves, they are good perennials for bright and cool undergrowth. Finally, their flowers are magnificent in bouquets.