Aquilegia.

                                              Grannies Bonnets or Columbines.

These three little booklets come without a cover written by Will Ingwersen no date, I purchased them from Abe Books. Full of useful information, I mentioned the Geranium booklet some time ago in one of the blogs. His writing is just so easy and fluent he says " In nature Aquilegias must be looked upon as dwellers in open woodlands, damp cliffs, ledges and among ferns and similar shade loving plants rather than inhabitants of open and windswept plains. " Which explains exactly what you think of when you think of Aquilegia growing conditions.

Aquilegia amaliae height approximately 20cm to 30cm a pretty little species. The beautiful nodding flowers have widely spreading sepals, varying from pale blue to violet and the petals are white ending in a curve.

Aquilegia jonesii hybrid above supposedly A. jonesii below the true Aquilegia jonesii, a truly delightful little species that we all truly desire to grow the real thing. Found in 1874 in northern Wyoming, Rocky Mountains on exposed limestone screes at high altitudes. It is supposed to come true from seed, but we need to find a reliable seed supplier.

Aquilegia alpina Mulleres Valley, Spain. I always thought Aquilegia alpina was very dwarf, but the books tell me it can get up to 80cm in height. There was the slightest variation of blue's and height of these gorgeous Aquilegia and so lovely to see them in their natural habitat quite wet underfoot in places.

Aquilegia cazorlensis seed collected in Cazorla Spain. Not mentioned in Will Ingwersen's papers, it is rarely mentioned in any of the books except Alpine Garden Society's Encyclopedia of Alpines. We only found one place where it was growing on a damp limestone ledge beside the road, I must admit it was very hot in Cazorla while we were there 39deg celsius, so it may have been in more places  finished flowering and had died back. My flowers are of a grey blue and the plants reach about 20cm and growing in moist shade. It looks quite delicate and fragile but seems hardy as these plants are 5 years old now and I have sent seed off to the seed exchanges, as it should be more widely grown, I did share seed with our AGSVGroup but I don't think anyone germinated the seed. I also distributed plants at the Bunfight, but have not heard if anyone is growing it, as it does seem to need a very moist position in the garden. (Above and Below)

One of my favourite little grannies bonnets, Aquilegia canadensis nana. I think I have had these little plants for close to 20 years. They self sow around gently and have a lovely maroon to red tinge to the edges of their foliage in winter, when in flower only reach about 10cm in height. I see where World Seeds has it advertised for sale.

Aquilegia flabellata nana take no notice of the label as it is now classified as Aquilegia flabellata. Aquilegia are quite promiscuous and hybridise with each other especially with the taller garden varieties. 

Aquilegia named as glandulosa but I think it should be A. fabellata hybrid Aaron raised from seed,  It has spread quite widely so I remove the seeds as I don't want too many growing the the garden. Approximately 15cm in height and very easy to grow 

   Aquilegia flabellata 'Cameo' this plant was raised by Mar S. I also grow this pretty little grannies bonnet in a trough when in flower it gets to about 10cm. We also saw it growing in Cyril Lafong's garden in Scotland (below), in a small crevice area.

Aquilegia flabellata syn. A. akitensis alpine regions of Japan, rarely found out of Japan when speaking about native habitat. Rarely reaching 15cm in height. Photo Kirsten Andersen.

Aquilegia flabellata pumila Roseum are excellent plants for the rock garden and usually come true from seed. Photo Kirsten Andersen.

Aquilegia grahamii I first saw this little Aquilegia growing in a pot that was being grown by Bill Maxwell and it was tiny. He was very proud to hold it up, while speaking about plants from the bench display at our AGSVG meetings, a tradition that is still carried out today. Aquilegia grahamii is endemic to Utah in the United States, where it is only known from Unitah County. It occurs in three canyons along the Uinto Mountains. Photo from Kirsten Andersen.

Aquilegia grata raised from Archibald seed, I have since lost it approximately 20cm in height an unusual colour of mauve-violet with glaucous leaves. It needs careful planing where to place it in the garden or it disappears, I had it planted next to a greyish rock in the garden and that displayed the colour of the flowers. From Yugoslavia.

Aquilegia laramiensis I first saw this little gem flowering in a trough Mar S. garden then John F. had put plants on the bunfight tables and I grabbed one. It is a tiny little grannies bonnet it is best grown in a scree or trough not a rich soil as it will otherwise grow out of proportion and the little flowers become lost in the foliage. It is from the foot of Laramie Peak (where it was named after) and Wyoming granite rock fissures. Photo curtesy Kirsten Andersen.

Aquilegia longissima it is aptly named isn't it, the length of those spurs, they can be extremely long , thread like pendants spurs which may be from 12cm to15cm long. Discovered in 1882 in the Charcol Mountains sth of Coahila in western Texas and in Mexico. Perfumed or sweetly scented flowers. Photo curtesy Kirsten Andersen

Aquilegia saximontana from high elevations in the central Rocky Mountains and Colorado and is 'highly desirable' to quote Will Ingwersen. He says it is not widely grown and the Alpine Gardens Encyclopedia says it is still not widely grown. I would like to thank Kirsten Andersen for this photo
alpines.dk photos from their garden.

Aquilegia scopulorum this is the true A. scopulorum thank you to Kirsten Andersen for this photo. Often when raising this little Aquilegia it has hybridised and is 60-80cm in height it should only be about 10cm in height. It is variable in colour mine is a lovely dark blue I forgot to take photos when it was in flower, I do grow it in a trough in Australia, as you can see it is grown in between two rocks creating a crevice to keep roots cool or dryish depending on your climate. From Central Nevada and in southern Utah and elsewhere.

Aquilegia skinneri really unmistakable with it's unique shaped flower's and has not had a name change. I have found it is not long lived but I may have planted it in too much shade, it is the most southern of the Aquilegias in it's distribution, it occurs in northern Mexico around Durango and Chihuahua. Plants get to a height of 15cm to 20cm.

Aquilegia viridiflora the most subtle of colours, charming in its own way ,green and chocolate flowers that are sweetly scented. Its height varies from 8cm to 15cm. It likes a sunny position but needs protection from our summer sun. It is was introduced into cultivation as early as 1842 from Davouria but it is now known to have a much wider area of the Mt Range in Central and East Asia  from the Altai mountains, Kansu to the Amur and Shantung. Farrer reported it growing in 1915 from the Da Tung Alps on hot low rocks.

Aquilegia vulgaris photographed in Fuente De, in the Asturian Picos, Spain. The oldest known species of Aquilegia in garden culture.

 The Aquilegia shown here except Aquilegia grahamii are on the permitted Bicon list, if it comes commercially packaged. A weed risk assessment needs to be done to get Aquilegia grahamii added to the list of permitted species of Aquilegia. I hope this encourages you all to try the little dwarf forms of Aquilegia from seed. Of course there are many more Aquilegia to grow, these are the ones I have grown and known good luck.

Our next meeting will be on Zoom of "Shrubs for the rock garden" or at the back, as a lot of the shrubs chosen by members are too tall for the rock garden. Fermi will let members know details for logging in, in an email, it will be on the 22nd August at 6.30pm all being well.

"Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could ever invent"
Sherlock Holmes said to Watson.