Aquilegia, Columbine, Granny's Bonnet

This is a wonderful traditional flower for the garden, some of which are used for flowers in the house, others simply used to punctuate the Borders, around the garden.

There are a whole host of varieties and strains of this wonderful flower.

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The colours vary tremendously, across the full spectrum of the rainbow.

Predominantly, these are flowers for May and June.

Positioning is varied as this flower will survive in a wide range of soils, as long as they are not too heavy and a wide range of aspects.

There are also varieties that are almost miniature and are often grown in alpine situations.

All Aquilegia is poisonous, but it is not alone in that department.

Many established gardens have a massive range of colours of Aquilegia and this is due to them seeding and being cross pollinated, as generally speaking aquilegia it is termed as a short lived perennial.

Sow seeds in autumn or early spring and generally the alpine Aquilegia can take longer to germinate and therefore, spread.

Believe it or not, this wonderful flower is related to the Buttercup.  There are actually many other herbaceous perennials that are also related to the Buttercup.

Dividing these herbaceous perennials is best done once, three or four years have gone by, as splitting them as young plants is very difficult due to the taproot.

This article is punctuated with various pictures of different aquilegia, to hopefully whet your appetite and certainly those of you who live in cottagey environment, then these are a must for the cottage garden.

Somehow they look happy when they are poking their delightful flower heads out from another plants foliage as they are one of the ultimate pocket plants.

There are many many many named of varieties, but for me, there is nothing more exciting than seeing what new colours, they can produce in your garden, each year.  I personally let them all seed, but some people prefer to deadhead, after flowering, but the trouble with this is, as they are short lived, if you do not let them go to seed, then you are more likely to go and need to purchase some more from your nearest horticultural retail outlet.

If you enjoy photography then this really is an opportunity as they really are a spectacle, when in flower.