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Aquilegia shapes

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Can anyone tell me if the different shaped aquilegia flowers around my garden have different names? The shape of flowers is so diverse, and I wondered if one of them is the native wild variety.

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  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445

    Both of those will be descended from the wild one,Aquilegia vulgaris. There are loads of variety and cultivar names but the plants are so promiscuous they don't mean much.



    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,384

    The native Aquilegia Vulgaris look like this and come in a limited range of colours:

    image

    Picture taken from the Touchwood site, here:

    http://www.touchwoodplants.co.uk/aquilegias.htm

    Most of the ones found in our gardens are crosses of the native one, which has dominant genes, so seedlings are often more like the wild form than any cultivar.  They are more often classified by flower shape such as 'clematis' ,'long spurred', double, etc. as they are so promiscuous that it makes little sense to give these crosses individual names.  Great fun to breed them yourself though - several of us on the forum do that. image

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445

    I've introduced other species and got some even more interesting crosses. A. viridiflora which is sometimes sold as chocolate something adds a nice new style. As. canadensis and skinneri for a wider colour range. A. vulgaris on its own doesn't go beyond purple/pink/white



    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,384

    You've mentioned canadensis and skinneri before nut - must add some of those and see what happens! image

    Mine are crosses with mckana hybrids and the large flowered blue & white one native to the Rockies in the US (aquilegia caerulea) - those are very long-lived for me and I have had some in a bed for 15 years. 

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,617

    Most of my crosses are with Nora Barlow. I get pompoms as well as different colour barlow babies. I have 20 packets of Touchwood doubles(mainly yellow and something else) on the go to give some different colours to the mainly pinks I have on the back and mainly blue/blacks/purples on the front.

    This is the last year that the owner of thenational collection (Carrie Thomas) is going to offer seeds from a single plant, so if anyone wants new gorgeous aquilegias, I suggest you get on her website  Touchwood plants (as above) and get the seeds in now.

  • landgirl100landgirl100 Posts: 655

    Nut and Bob, I don't agree about the colour of wild A. vulgaris, it is usually a deep, intense blue. These are in my garden, but they are the wild type.

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  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445

    I thought the pinks and whites were variations of vulgaris landgirl. What has been crossed to produce those?

    Bob, I've grown caerulea from seed last year but I'm not sure if it's going to flower this year. I should have got them planted out last year and they got a bit restricted in the pots.

    fidget, I've got a good spread of colour and shape now, I may look for a few more species thoughimage



    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • SwedboySwedboy Posts: 394

    I have several ones that I got as seeds from a colleague who had collected them from known strains in her garden. None of the has her colours but that was expected. I am now on tenterhooks to see if the really odd one has come back. It was not as vigourus as the other ones but had a very weird flower. Instead of the bell shape they usually have it had the side petals but instead of the main flower heads it had really small petals like a wreaf/crown. If it does it again I'll post a photo.

    The others grow like monsters in the garden. Almost taking over the place.

  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,888

    It was with a heavy heart that I had to zap some of my aquilegias this spring with Roundup. I'd allowed them self seed and many has settled in the crowns of some hostas. One of them had to go , so Hostas 1 Aquilegias 0. But I've sown tons of seed to replace them in positions of my choosing, if not theirs.

    I'd always gone with " I'll let them flower, and , if I don't like the, I'll pull them out". But never disliked one enough to pull it out.

    Devon.
  • SwedboySwedboy Posts: 394

    I had to dig some of mine out as they where blocking everything else as they were at the front of the border. They seems to  have recovered from the shock and stated to shoot leaves again after dying down totally.

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