Growing Granny’s Bonnets

by Martin Blow

“Granny’s Bonnets” or columbine are easy to grow, reliable and tough perennials that have popped up in cottage gardens from time immemorial. The proper name, aquilegia, comes from the Latin for “eagle” from the resemblance of the shape of the flower to an eagle’s claw.

Most books will tell you to plant them in moist soil with a little shade. Most aquilegias will also sow themselves into the driest, hottest parts of your garden and be perfectly content although the flowers may not last so long.

There are diminutive types for the alpine garden and large, long-stemmed types for the border. All are easy to grow from seed, although named varieties might not always come true. Aquilegia are notoriously promiscuous and if you grow more than one type, they will cross with gay abandon producing mixed seedlings in a range of shapes and colours. If buying seed, you can sow in April outdoors and have good sized plants to plant out in Autumn. If saving your own seed, sow in trays in a cold frame as soon as the seed is ripe and plant these out in March the following year.

You can also divide plants with care, but these divisions do take a while to root. Remember, all parts of the plants including the seeds are poisonous.

“McKenna Hybrid” plants flowering away in my parents’ garden all my young life. The large flowers with their long backward facing spurs were an irresistible delight to me.

These “long-spurred” types are the result of crossing two wild American types: chrysantha, with yellow flowers and caerulea with blue. Lots of colours including red, pink and purple, often in partnership with white are now available.

Other species from America worth growing from seed are the red and yellow skinnerii and canadensis. I find these do appreciate a little more shade, more moisture in summer and better drainage in winter than some.

The European native vulgaris are the more traditional granny’s bonnets usually in purple. Lots of colours

and shapes of these are also available now including the double, spiky-flowered Barlow hybrids. Nora Barlow in red, white and green was the first but lots more single colours have been added to the range including the near-black Black Barlow and the greenish-white Green Apples.

For smaller plants Red Hobbit is a good choice as are the Winky Hybrids. The latter, unusually, has upward facing flowers.

For the alpine garden there are many tiny ones. My favourite is the easy to grow but difficult to pronounce Aquilegia buergeriana Calimero with yellow and purple flowers on 10 to 15cm tall plants.

A search of a good seed catalogue or a specialist at a plant fair should be able to provide you with lots of different sizes, shapes and colours of Granny’s Bonnets to fill your early summer garden with these jolly, bright flowers.

Janet and I run Special Perennials www.specialperennials.com We sell at Plant Hunters’ Fairs throughout the season. DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 2020. We will be at the Plant Hunters’ Fairs at Bramall Hall, Stockport on Sunday 5 April; The Dorothy Clive Garden, TF9 4EU on Sunday 12 & Monday 13 April; Cholmondeley Castle, Malpas SY14 8AH on Sunday 26 April; Adlington Hall, Macclesfield on Sunday 10 May; Carsington Water DE6 1ST on Monday 25 May. All gardens offer half price or better entry for these special events days. Please see www.planthuntersfairs.co.uk for full details and last- minute updates.

www.specialperennials.com