This is the journal of my endeavours to grow a range of fruit, veg and flowers from seed, grow organically, and my attempts to create a personal paradise with 1/2 acre of maintained gardens and 1/2 acre wild meadows. Northern Ireland's average daily high temperatures are 18 °C (64 °F) in July and 6 °C (43 °F) in January. Soil type: Clay

Wednesday, 11 May 2011

Aquilegia 'pick n mix'

Last summer I grew Aquilegia from seed. This is their first year flowering.  Pictured below are the results.

Variety: Aquilegia Long Spurred Hybrids, Suttons 'Cottage Garden' Seed Collection, £4.25.

Aquilegia are nice, however, delphinium is still my favourite cottage garden style plant for impact followed by Lupin.
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11 comments:

  1. Jo11 May 2011 at 02:16

    You've grown a lovely selection there. I have a purple one in the back garden, but have noticed that a pink one has self seeded in the front garden.

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  2. ann11 May 2011 at 06:25

    Your aquilegia are lovely. Here their common name is Columbine and it is our Colorado state flower. The wild variety are the beautiful lavender-blue that grow in the aspen groves in the mountains. They bloom around the 4th of July.

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  3. Malay-Kadazan girl11 May 2011 at 06:39

    I like your collection of violet and mauve aquilegia. Last spring we had only red and yellow colour grown from seedlings that we bought. Our home-saved seeds have just sprouted hopefully it will have some different colour a surprise for us.

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  4. Mark Willis11 May 2011 at 10:11

    What a great collection - far better than my few volunteers! When did your first flowers come out? I remember you expressing doubts about whether they would bloom in April.

    I suggest the following additions to the archetypical English Cottage Garden collection: Sweet William; Stocks; Hollyhock.

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  5. Egretta Wells blog11 May 2011 at 10:18

    These aquilegia are really pretty...love the colors. Can't wait to see your delphiniums and lupins! Mark had some good suggestions, too. I just love English Cottage gardens!!Irish Cottage gardens, too!

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  6. Kelli11 May 2011 at 10:56

    Thanks for the suggestions. I really love Hollyhock, however i heard it can be troublesome to grow & needs lots of care & attention? Stock... not sure why I have't grown. Sweet William I'll have to look up, can't think what it looks like. I've recently sown Malope (hardy annual), it gets 36" tall with red and white flowers, excited to see how it turns out.

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  7. Peggy11 May 2011 at 14:05

    I have one reddish aquilegia, at least I bought one. I now have about 6!
    I love lupins again I have one which is year sold and I have given away so many slips from it, I saved the seeds 2 years ago and the new plant was a pale pink which is out in the allotment.
    What we call Sweet William is also known as Dianthus (I think)

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  8. HolleyGarden11 May 2011 at 14:52

    Lovely! That blue is incredible!

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  9. ~TastyTravels~11 May 2011 at 20:16

    Gorgeous blooms Kelli!!

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  10. Alecia @ Tchotchkes etc.12 May 2011 at 06:42

    wow they're lovely!

    I've just discovered your blog - and was so pleased to see that you're in County Antrim! I'm in Australia but my husband's family is from County Antrim. It's a small world isn't it?

    Alecia
    www.tchotchkesetc.blogspot.com

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  11. Diana LaMarre21 May 2011 at 11:40

    What a great selection of Aquilegia! You must really have a green thumb to get all those seeds to flower. I am not very good with seeds.

    I, too, love lupine. I am not that good with them either. Some years I get a few small blooms, other years nothing. Last year was nothing so I am hoping to get a flower or two this year. I would so love to have big beds of them!

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