Queen of The Border

Pictured above, Queen of the Border. Designer: Emma Bossons FRSA. Limited Edition 30.

“For me, the magnificent, gloriously apparelled delphinium. With its impeccable bearing and massed in platoons, holds pride of place in my botanical affects” – King Charles III.

Delphiniums are said to be the queens of any cottage garden. In truth, this is not unsurprising for a plant that begins life in February only a couple of inches tall, then grows to a towering eight feet by mid-June. With their colourful and mighty presence, delphiniums are often a flower of choice for many designer’s celebrated statement piece. Moorcroft designer, Emma Bossons is no exception. With sheer delight, Emma has watched them bloom in her own garden, sketching and painting, when weather permits, their colourful fanfare when the blooms reign supreme in June and July.

Delphiniums gained the name Queen of the Border since their tall flower spikes make excellent perennial borders in gardens and classic landscapes. For a Coronation subject matter alone, the link, although somewhat tenuous, could stop at this very fact. Yet there is something more. His Majesty King Charles III, has declared that his favourite flowers are the gloriously apparelled delphinium. It might then be assumed, that if his wife, and Queen Consort Camilla, were to be a flower, she would be a delphinium. It is also a well-known fact that His Majesty King Charles III is an avid champion of the delphinium within his own beloved Highgrove Gardens.

The name origin of delphiniums comes from the Greek word delphin (dolphin) due to the flower’s spur resembling a dolphin’s back. Queen of the Border is a feminine design, with Art Nouveau curves that comes crashing down like Hokusai’s Great waves off Kanagawa in which Prussian blue wood block paints invigorated a new art movement. As the exquisite mix of blue hues, hand painted layer by layer, soar up this colossal vase, a deep mix of colour is brought to life. Regal purples, soft cornflower and cobalt blues charge the senses through a host of delphiniums in flower and bud, each a reflection of its kind and yet something refreshingly unique.

Emma wanted to give her Delphiniums a prominent position within the Moorcroft shape library to allow the stems of multiple florets to rise up and dazzle the world in an array of colours ranging from silvery mauve and white to shades of violet and sapphire blue. In this, the Moorcroft designer has been successful.

When all the pomp and ceremony of the Coronation is over, do not be dismayed. Plentiful are the gardens throughout the country that dance with these colourful delphinium blooms. The garden is a refuge for us all. Whilst many of us will never make it to the Royal couple’s delphinium displays at Highgrove, or for that matter, receive an audience with His Majesty the King, we can all, nonetheless, unite in our appreciation of the natural world.  So we hope our very own Queen of The Border makes you smile long after the church bells have stopped ringing. If you are minded to see a pleasant crowd of delphinium blooms, the Royal Horticultural Society’s headquarters at Wisley, Surrey, and at the other RHS show-gardens around England, will not leave you disappointed. Over the years, delphiniums have become an RHS speciality and growers of delphiniums head for the RHS shows, especially Chelsea – just a few weeks after the Coronation on May 6^th2023. Needless to say, Moorcroft will be there with delphinium blooms in a blaze of glory!