The Sunset of the Aquilegias

The showy Aquilegia (or Columbine), with its fanciful flowers of all different shapes and sizes, is a great pleasure to keep in a larger yard.  It is fun to keep many different kinds and enjoy the easy multiplication of the plants as they seed themselves around. 

Aquilegia from the Songbird series

My favourites include the large-flowered bright colors of the Songbird series.  These are each named after different songbirds (Bunting, Robin, Skylark, etc.) and a google images search will show all the pretty colors.  These flowers have long straight "tails" behind the faces of the flowers.  My photography didn't quite do them justice this year.  Oh well.

I most often have purchased my Aquilegia seed from this online company in California, who has been quite reliable for my seed purchases for several years.  I suppose I like the bright clear photos and can imagine these plants in my own garden.  If you're really fanatical about finding a particular plant, try Jellito Seeds, the German company.  They don't have the nice photo display of the other website, but if you choose your plants by their Latin names, this is the place for you. 

While gardens in warmer and more southern climates are probably all done with the Aquilegias by now, I still have some in full bloom, especially in the shadier areas.  It is very easy to start these perennials from seed.  Of course, you must be patient as they will only flower in the second year from planting.  I start mine indoors under lights and transplant out in the spring.   

Aquilegia from the "Clementine" series, pink and white flowering plants

Unknown Aquilegia which has spread itself around the flowerbed

 My dwarf-size Aquilegias are mostly done flowering by now.  These pictured ones are more medium sized, nicely suited to sit among the irises, finishing tulips, roses and immature delphiniums of the raised beds.  Actually, hiding dying tulips is a perfect role for Aquilegias.  The timing is just perfect.

This week, the Siberian irises started to flower in beautiful deep purple and white shades.  The old-fashioned bearded irises are long-since finished, so it is nice to see the Siberians now in late June.  The next highlight in the perennial parade will be the lilies in July.   

Aquilegias All Over

The blooms shifted from tulips to Aquilegias while I was away from the province this past few weeks. I've tried several types of Aquilegias and now have a bit of variety, as far as columbines go. There are tall plants and short plants, upwards/outwards/downwards-facing flowers, long or short "spurs" on the base of the flower, double-layer flowers, and one ones with unique colors or shapes of foliage. Of course, there are many different color combinations of the flowers themselves.
Japanese Fan columbine (Aquilegia flabellata nana alba), with its slightly eery whitish-grey flowers:

A blue "Songbird" series Aquilegias, one of the showiest in my opinion:

Aquilegia "Blackcurrant Ice", a dwarf form that is less than 10 inches tall and has unique coloring:

I fell for "Blackcurrant Ice" after some catalog called it rare and highly desirable. That's probably not true, but went out and I got myself one right away. It looks a lot like this one in Thompson & Morgan's seed catalog. My original "Blackcurrant Ice" and an Aquilegia glandulosa (blue flower) plants died two years ago, but I knew they set seed and I left all the seedlings to make an Aquilegia groundcover:

Aquilegia glandulosa is also called the Siberian columbine. It is another dwarf and has outwards to downwards-facing flowers.
Aquilegia glandulosa:

Aquilegia do set seed and multiply rather easily, so I deadhead mine promptly if I don't want any more in some flower beds. Like most perennials, they only bloom in their second year, so plant some now to enjoy flowers next year. The are very easy to grow.
White "Clementine" series columbine, named as such because of their clematis-like flowers:

Pink "Clementine" columbine:

Unknown type columbine, with downwards-facing flowers:

Now in Bloom

Now in full bloom here are Aquilegia (columbines), Aruncus dioicus (goatsbeard), Dianthus deltoides, Polemonium caeruleum (Jacob's ladder), Iris sibirica (Siberian iris), Dianthus barbatus (Sweet Williams), Lupinus polyphyllus, Digitalis grandiflora and one lonely Oriental poppy.

I fell in love with the pictures of these Songbird Mix aquilegias on the Swallowtail seeds website and started some last year. Here is one of the products, a long-spurred, upwards facing flower, small plant (less than 2 ft tall). I have another that flowered a pale yellow, but no blues.


My in-laws are in town visiting and I enjoy leisurely tours through the garden with my mother-in-law, who also enjoys gardening. She mentioned that her Siberian irises are doing nothing much and I pointed out these pale blue ones of mine, which have taken three years to start blooming! About half of mine still have no blooms, but I'll generously give them another few years and a "talking to", as another gardener friend admonished.


The sloping rock bed is full of color with Aquilegias, Digitalis grandiflora (yellow foxglove), purple alpine asters, pink dianthus, and the start of thyme's season of purple blooms.


The yellow foxglove (at the top of the picture) is extremely hardy and requires ordinary garden conditions. It does very well here, but of course is very poisonous. Like the drug digitalis, it can slow the heart to the point of stopping it altogether.


Two grey plants do fabulous in my garden: Lamb's ears (tall grey plant on left) and Artemisia "Silvermound" (fluffy moundish plant at left). Both need no special care, full to part sun, and low to moderate amounts of water. The lamb's ears creeps outwards while the silvermound does not spread.


Here's a moth the dog could get along with. It has a furry white coat!


Alpine asters amid three colors of Dianthus deltoides. All are great rock garden plants, though I need to shear the flowers off after the blooming season to keep them tidy-looking.

The Case of the Disappearing Aquilegias

As I did my usual prowl through the garden this morning, I came upon something shocking! The two red-and-yellow-flowered aquilegias (columbines) in my semi-shade bed had no leaves. I am quite sure they were fully clothed in leaves yesterday.I looked closer and saw the centimeter-long green wormish culprits inching their way up and down the bare stems. I tried taking pictures of them, but couldn't quite get focused on the little things.

The baffling part is that they didn't eat any of the blooms or the neighbouring aquilegia (which flowers purple, though it finished blooming a while ago). I sprayed some permethrin on the plant and cut off the majority of the remaining branches. If the plants don't grow some leaves again by winter, they probably won't survive. I can't believe it. Just as I get all the colors in that bed to match, some pest strips an innocent flower of its leaves!