If you go to this link to my original blog, you will find a series of photographs of Aquilegias. Some of them are growing here in my own garden, others at the Touchwood Nursery on the Gower (near Swansea). I visited there last May and bought several packets of unusual Aquilegia seeds. I sowed them last year and have just been potting them on (at last) today. A couple have lost their labels, so I will have to wait and see what flowers they have, but I am glad to say that the purple stellata form with variegated leaf, the Roman Bronze and another bronzey-leafed variety have survived the winter. I have Elegance, which has a golden foliage too, and there is a blue and white double (big one), and a pink and yellow double, and a reddish one (forgot name) and a red and yellow. Scientific, moi! I would have looked up the empty seed packets but they are out in what we call the Back Place, which is blardy cold tonight and there isn't a light in there!
Anyway, I am so pleased that spring is on its way now and I am really looking forward to getting to grips with the garden. It has to look at its very best, because of people viewing the house. I have decided to ask for seeds for my birthday next month, so I have spent some time going through my Chiltern Seeds catalogue, and yes, I have put a star beside several Aquilegias I covet . . . I don't think you need to ask what my favourite garden flower is (and I love it in the wild too - it grows along the hedgerows here.) There are about half an acre of wild Aquilegias growing in a local graveyard . . .
Oh, how beautiful! I wonder if we have those here in Oregon. I'll have to look at the garden center to see if I can find them. We have daffodils blooming now and the hyacinths are peeking their heads up. Although Autumn is my favorite season, I do love Spring with all the new life. Enjoy your cross stitching this evening...
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Dianne
Lovely to see all those gorgeous summery looking aquilegias, the leaves of most of mine are pushing through now, like you I love them.
ReplyDeleteWas so glad to hear about T and her jobs in yesterdays post, you must be so pleased and relieved that something has finally come up for her.
I love that graveyard with the wild version. I too love columbines (can't spell the a. flower! They seem to bridge the gap between spring and summer; leaves one day - a delight in themselves, and then the flower spikes seem to literally explode towards the sky. Ballerina flowers, though I think I love the wild ones best. Congratulations on growing them from seed - I am afraid I leave mine to self-seed.
ReplyDeletethose flowers are very pretty, I loved your previous post, the scenery and your home. I remember my Nan having lots of blue and white, she loved it. It never seems to go out of style x
ReplyDeleteThat yellow-lime aquilegia is beautiful - and amazingly, your fingers are PINK, not Green!? LOL
ReplyDeleteSouthern Heart - I think you have Oregon Aquilegias (even if only in the wild!) The lady at Touchwood Nurseries is offering them anyway!
ReplyDeleteRowan - incredibly relieved, even though it means she will be staying in Sheffield . . . If you would like seeds of the Aquilegias I have here, shout out. Better still - visit 3rd week of May and chose your own!
WSC - I leave mine to self-seed too, but have grown them to sell in the past.
dubgirl - welcome back. The scenery IS lovely, and I am so fond of my B&W china . . . every piece has a meaning and a memory.
Jinksy - that is one which self-sowed itself here. They mutate and I have all-sorts, including a lovely purpley-blue clematis-flower one with stripes. (Fingers pink and occasionally green TOO!)
I love all the varieties of this beautiful flower.
ReplyDeleteI am too tired to back up and check the spelling of columbines in proper name and was even groping for the common name. I have had a dainty yellow one, as well as one in periwinkle blue.
ReplyDeleteIn the Wyoming mountains a white form grows wild--blooming much later in spring as do all the high mountain flowers.
I am almost overwhelmed in thinking of what I'll be able to grow--at one time I knew plants by Latin names, all sorts of botanical data.
Maybe it will come back to my stagnant brain, or maybe I'll have to enjoy my flowers by their commonest names.
When I mentioned the daffodils in bud at the cottage, I was told that the local name for them is "March lilies."
Hi, I am trying to find a nice location to film aquilegias in the wild and saw your blog mentioning a graveyard with half an acre of them. I don't suppose you could let me know where this is? You can mail me at rob.yeoman@bbc.co.uk Thanks v much!
ReplyDeleteHi, I am trying to find a nice location to film aquilegias in the wild and saw your blog mentioning a graveyard with half an acre of them. I don't suppose you could let me know where this is? You can mail me at rob.yeoman@bbc.co.uk Thanks v much!
ReplyDelete