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:

Digital Garden Renovation

There is a patch of flowerbed alongside our driveway that reminds me of a perpetual bad hair day. I spend a lot of time pondering what to do with this awful patch. I don't want to dig it up entirely, since it contains many spring bulbs which are just getting established as good clumps.

I need some larger plants with interesting textures to cover up the dying foliage of the early spring bulbs (mostly Siberian squill). The new plants can't clash with the dwarf lilac to the right, which I just tolerate. The cedar (Thuja) on the left has put strong fibrous roots through this whole area which make life difficult for many plants that have tried but failed to live here.

The cedar shades this spot in the morning, so the plants just get afternoon sun. I used my newly updated Realtime Landscaping Pro 5 program (PC) to get some ideas for new plants in this spot. Here is the proposed design:

The large central planting is a pale/yellow leaf Japanese barberry. Around it are Brunnera, white flowering begonias, a hosta, a green leaf coral bells (Heuchera), and another Campanula carpatica "Blue clips", since that plant already lives here and thrives in these conditions. I threw in a chives behind the barberry, since that plant thrives anywhere. Click on the photo for a closer image.
As an aside, here is my favourite columbine in the garden this year. I believe it is one of the "Songbird mix" plants I started last year. I bought the seeds from Swallowtail garden seeds, from whom I have bought many seeds and always been happy. I like this columbine because of the color, long spurs, and upwards-facing blooms. A real winner. Now I need more good pink columbines...

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!

Pink Potentilla and Columbines

The columbines are blooming now and I'm braving the blowing fluff from the cottonwood trees to take photograph them. Sneeze, sneeze, sniff...I started several of these Potentilla x "Helen Jane" two years ago. They have an intense raspberry-pink flower. In good soil and full sun, the largest plant has gotten about 90 cm wide by 50 cm tall. It is not a compact plant, being rather open, but not quite "sprawling".

This is the neighbour's dock across the street. I'm assuming the grandkid's bicycles are destined for a splash in Lac La Ronge. Here are the three sandcherries we planted two years ago. My grand plan is to facilitate cross-pollination between all the cherry trees/shrubs in the yard: Nanking cherry (Prunus tomentosa), Pincherry (Prunus pensylvanica) , "Carmine Jewel" dwarf sour cherry and sandcherry (Prunus x cistena). The dwarf sour cherry apparently can self-pollinate, but I understand that the other trees all have better yields when cross-pollinated. I'm not sure if the Nanking cherries are going to make it this year though, as they haven't leafed out yet! Good grief!

Columbines and a Public Park Rant

The late June flowers are now taking over from the glorious show of the tulips. Columbines are blooming in full sun, with the shaded plants yet to bloom. Columbines (Aquilegia) are generally recommended for part sun, but mine seem to do okay in full sun, perhaps because of slightly cooler conditions here.

This is an unknown downwards-facing tall pink flowered aquilegia.

I just started a bunch more columbines from seed under lights in the basement. They are a mix from the "Songbird" series, because I decided at some point last year that these definitely were the most beautiful of columbines, with their long spurs, and upwards-facing blooms. I got them from Swallowtail seeds, which has a nice listing of various aquilegias. Most aquilegias are extremely easy to grow from seed.
I have several of these purple aquilegias, several of which grew from seedlings of an old plant that was in the yard when we moved in.

The "rock garden" plants are keeping this steep bank intact and looking pretty while doing it. In the center is a white-flowered aquilegia whose blooms are yet to open. At top center is the white-flowered Dicentra spectabilis Alba (white version of the common bleeding heart). It has to be in part shade, otherwise it burns in our weather.

The white spots all over the dirt are not confetti, perlite, or fertilizer, but the fallen petals from the mountain ash tree.

This lovely pink flowered plant with bluish-grey foliage is the 2006 perennial of the year, Dianthus gratianopolitanus 'Firewitch' (English for 'Feuerhexe', its original German name). It is one of the cheddar pinks (Dianthus have several different types, such as the Maiden pinks, Garden pinks, etc.) and grows in zones 3-9 in full sun.
Swallowtail butterfly on my lilac bush. I'm very allergic to the despised shrub, but I'm glad these colorful critters can appreciate it!

Hopefully the garden will be looking good for this weekend, as some locals came by last night asking to have their wedding photographs in our yard. The yard really is taking on a life of its own -- not only does it have its own website, but it's hosting wedding photos!
Unfortunately, our town has only 6 public parks, one of whose landscaping highlights consists of lawn and a water treatment facility. They are hardly a desirable place to take wedding photos. I suppose this lack of landscaping is supposed to be consistent with a "natural" appearance, but the lack of beautiful common areas is disappointing to me. At least we could have a patch of native wildflowers to add some sparkle to the beachfront parks! They could detract from the only source of color at the moment: fast food packaging and discarded potato chip bags.

June Flowers and Showers

We've had a fair bit of rain this month, but the flowers are looking great. At left is "Coral Star" columbine, which is a small 12" plant with flowers looking skyward.

Pictured: My collection of semi-shaded coral bells (Heuchera) with shades of purple and green foliage. The blooms are yet to appear.


Pictured: Purple and white columbine, I believe this to be "Origami Blue and White" of the Origami series. It is a mid-size plant and doing well in part shade.

Pictured: unnamed white columbine with very long spurs and outwards facing flowers.

Columbines [Aquilegia] are the showy ladies of the month, with a variety of colors and shapes in my yard. I inherited some pendant downwards-facing purple flowered plants with the yard, but have planted several others. I think the perfect columbine would have upturned flowers, long or curly spurs, and a long-blooming period. So far, the white one is my favourite. It bloomed for most of the season last year. I took seeds from it and grew 5 new plants from it this year. I'll have to wait and see what I get out of the new plants, as they may have crossed to make similar or different plants.