Plant

AQUILEGIA

or Granny's Bonnets

Extravagant ornaments in every colour and style

From delicate nodding bells of white or blue to flambouyant artworks that seem to exist beyond nature. 
This archetypal cottage garden plant takes up little room but demands your attention. 

Pictured: long-spurred yellow Aquilegia

Colours

All including exotic intricate bi-colours

Height; spread

15cm - 1m tall; 20 - 50 cm spread

Conditions

Moist loam or in woodland

Sun or shade

Full shade or partial shade

Flowers

May to July

Propagation

By seed or division

Reasons to grow...

  • Almost too exquisite to be natural
  • Every imaginable colour, from the pure blue common form to flamboyant bi-colour combinations
  • Take up little room and can be squeezed in where most perennials can’t
  • Easy to propagate and promiscuous seeders
  • Delicate tapestry of open foliage

    Watch out for
    Aquilegia sawfly
    Aquilegia gall midge – grows in flower buds
    Some self-seeding concoctions aren’t garden-worthy

Garden Rooms

Back Terrace
Some of the earliest flowering Aquilegias are in this bed. 
The White Garden
Frilly white bells seed around but we let them stay.
Whitebeam Allee
Recently added to pop up behind and through the catmint

Top Varieties

McKana’s Hybrid – long-spurred variety in a wide number of combinations
Nora Barlow – a series with fluffy blooms, most striking in black
Vulgaris – the common variety but an enchanting deep blue

We brought white seeds and a mix of McKana’s long-spurred varieties and have ended up with a wonderful variety of cross-bred mongrels – like the one pictured here. We’re never sure what to expect and have had some brilliant surprises.