Aquilegias are found in America, throughout Europe and into the Far East. It is from these (Aquilegia vulgaris) that most of the garden hybrids have been developed. There are others, such as the small woodland A. canadensis, and a tall, virtually black alpine species, A. atrata, which is found in the Alps. But, even though not native to the British Isles, aquilegias have made themselves at home and have escaped into the countryside where they have naturalised in hedgerow, wasteland and woodland.
A plant's name can reveal much, and this species is no exception. The name aquilegia comes from the Latin for eagle. Its other name is columbine. This derives from the Latin, Columba, meaning dove. With a stretch of the imagination you can just about see what the taxonomists mean. As the blooms come up to flower the spurs on their drooping heads appear to be arched bird's necks and the open flowers resemble bird's wings.
There are a number of cultivars but the most striking and useful are the Barlow strain, McKana hybrids, and the Songbird series.
The Barlow strain has been around a long time with new additions being made regularly. The original was 'Nora Barlow' and is named after Charles Darwin's grand-daughter. Others include 'Blue Barlow,' 'Bordeaux Barlow,' 'Christa Barlow,' 'White Barlow,' and the choicest of all, 'Black Barlow.' These are all spurless doubles, with grey-green leaves. Being doubles they aren't much use to you if you're a wildlife gardener. The other cultivars would be more suitable.
The McKana hybrids are beautiful and gaudy giants. It's impossible to grow these in a colour scheme because a single plant carries mixed colours. They are clump forming, which means they are tidy, and have attractive blue-green fernlike leaves. They possess long spurs and the flowers can be up to three inches wide. They are generally quite short lived but are easily replaced and can live anywhere. They look superb in a cottage garden or woodland edge.
The Songbird strain is a real beauty with large blooms in gorgeous colours, but as with the McKana hybrids, can be short lived. They have a tendency to behave like a biennial and often die after flowering, however that is no reason not to grow them; they are stunning. The songbirds are free flowering with spurred single flowers, and very winter hardy. The names are delightful as the breeders try to marry the bird with its colour. For example there's 'Nightingale,' purple-blue with a blush centre, there's the white 'Dove,' the pink and white 'Chaffinch,' the golden yellow 'Goldfinch,' the cerise and white 'Robin.' There's many more and they all have a cheerful centre because of their bright yellow stamens and anthers.
All aquilegias can be aggressive neighbours so if you don't want them to set seed make sure to cut them right back after flowering, including the leaves. They'll be back after a few weeks, but tidier, and none the worse for their experience.
They have no morals and are notoriously promiscuous; you'll find new self-sown plants popping up all over the place in your garden. How robust you are going to be with them is up to you. Only you can decide which to keep or get rid of. They hardly ever grow true to type because the bumblebees do a sterling job of cross pollination. Therefore it's a waiting game to see what you've got. If you need the space you can dig up any plants you want, and grow them on in pots until they flower to see if they're worth keeping.
If you want to grow your own from seed it's simplicity itself. Just sow them in pots and bring on in a cold greenhouse or frame. Follow the usual procedure of potting on when the first true leaves have formed and then pot-on until ready to plant out. Alternatively, if you want to sow later, then sow outside where they are to flower. When planting out mature plants, give them a rich fertile soil which includes plenty of compost or leafmould and they will show intense gratitude by flowering their hearts out for you.
A HARDWOOD CUTTING OR WHAT!
The wonderful thing about gardening is that it never ceases to surprise. Three years ago I cut down and cleared a Viburnum bodnantense 'Dawn' that was in the way of the woodland edge I was creating. I used some of the sturdier bits of trunk as uprights to contain a log pile at the back of one of my borders. Last month I just happened to examine the log pile and lo-and-behold (as you can see in the photograph) one the uprights was covered in strongly growing leaves. For some reason it had decided to strike and become a hardwood cutting after three years - incredible. Have you ever struck a hardwood cutting two inches in diameter? Anyway, I haven't the heart to remove it at the moment; we'll have to see the way things go before I make a decision. If you've had any strange gardening experiences let me know.