The path of least resistance is the most well-worn through my garden; I rarely plant anything known to be fussy, and if an attempt to grow a particular plant fails once or twice, I usually move on. Except delphiniums. Delphiniums inspire me to periodically try again, despite my miserable track record.

I've envisioned stately columns of vivid blue along the back fence for years, and for most of those years I've had my mother's old delphinium hoops but not hopes. This is at least my fifth attempt to grow them, and only the second time I've gotten them to the bloom stage, and the first time any of them has achieved their famous height. (Admittedly, the first blooms didn't have the chance, as rabbits lopped them off before they could really take off.)

This year I tried three plants, and they've been looking pretty wimpy and making no signs of blooming even though I've tried to give them what they're supposed to want. And then, when I wasn't looking, this blue spire appeared along the middle of my back fence. I'm not sure I'll be able to replicate this feat, much less achieve a row of them blooming at once, but at least I'm encouraged to try again. Who knows? Maybe I'll be inspired to try hollyhocks again, a plant that strangely has been a bugaboo for a variety of reasons since I first tried to grow them from seed when I was 10 and they fell victim to wayward machinery.

What plants have eluded you? What plants do you coddle along despite the effort?