Aquilegia or Grannies Bonnet

Aquilegia has many common names such as columbine or grannies nightcap/bonnet.They are clump forming perennials which are grown for their rosettes of deeply lobed blue-green leaves. They have distinctive bell-shaped flowers with colourful, spurred petals which come in many colours from purple to yellow.

Where to Site Your Aquilegia

These are perfect for creating the cottage garden theme or planting as part of a mixed border.

How to Grow and Look after Your Aquilegia

They like to grow amongst other perennials or shrubs for a little support and dapple shade.They can tolerate most soils as well as drought but do not like water logging.During the flowering period pinch out the spent flowers to encourage new ones coming through. Once they have finished fully flowering then cut back flowers by half.
The foliage is attractive all year round, to get the best appearance then trim in late autumn to get a better winter show.The seeds and roots are poisonous. They can be a little short lived but freely reproduce themselves from seeds, so you should always have them.