Aquilegia is a beautiful perennial crop with colorful bright buds. More than a hundred species of herbaceous plants are known. Flowerbeds are decorated with such multi-colored flowers, creating unusual compositions from lush bushes. Planting a perennial at home is easy. Growing aquilegia from seeds is not difficult. All you need to know about breeding is where it grows well, when to plant aquilegia and what conditions are necessary when planting.

A herbaceous plant in natural conditions can be found in many northern regions of the planet. More than a hundred species of aquilegia are known. Many of them have an elongated small outgrowth of the sepals - a spur in which nectar accumulates. Due to this, aquilegia is often called the "catchment" or "eagle". In many countries, different varieties of perennial plants are grown in gardens, which are distinguished by the unique color of the inflorescences. In the regions of Siberia, hybrid species of eagle are usually bred in flower beds.

Aquilegia "terry", "blue", "yellow", "vinky", "burrow barlow" or "hybrid" take root best of all in a harsh climate. Varieties of perennial culture "columbine", "crimson star", aquilegia "ordinary" and "ampel" look very beautiful in the gardens. You can grow aquilegia by seed.

Self-collection of seeds

A flowering plant has fruits in the form of a pod. Small dark seeds ripen in them. Fully ripened fruits open themselves, and the seeds fall into the soil. They germinate the next season.

To avoid varietal mixing, some flower growers collect seeds at the end of the summer period, when the pods have not yet opened. The fruits are picked and left to ripen at home. Also, to prevent seed shedding, you can tie already faded inflorescences with a gauze cut. Dry pods will open, and the seeds will remain in the fabric wrapping.

Selection in the store of aquilegia seeds for sowing

You can buy seeds of different varieties of aquilegia in any specialized store. At the same time, be sure to pay attention to the observance of the conditions for saving material for sowing:

• collection time;
• compliance with temperature conditions.

It is best to buy seeds that have been stored for no longer than two years, as the seed loses its germination capacity every year. The packaging must be intact and dry.

Sowing seeds and growing seedlings

Aquilegia seeds should be planted for seedlings in a sufficiently deep container, since the root system of the plant has an elongated shape and a delicate structure. The sowing process itself is simple:

• place the prepared soil in a pot and moisten well;
• spread the seeds evenly on top;
• sprinkle with a small layer of soil mixture;
• tamp the ground a little;
• cover with foil on top.

With proper care, seedlings will sprout quickly and amicably.

Sowing dates

The best option for growing aquilegia is to plant seeds in the fall immediately after harvest. Store-bought seeds can also be sown in early spring. But in this case, they must be subjected to stratification (hardening).

Pre-sowing preparation of seeds

Fresh seeds can be safely sown in the soil. If it is planned to plant aquilegia for seedlings in early spring, then seed material should be prepared:

• place the seedlings in the refrigerator for a month and a half;
• after a month, mix them with the substrate and put them in a cold place again.

In this temperature regime, seeds are kept until sowing.

“Some flower growers practice increasing seed germination by heating. To do this, the inoculum is stored at a temperature of 35 ° C for thirty days.

Before planting, they are poured with a warm manganese solution and left for several hours.

Soil selection

Sowing seeds is carried out in specially prepared nutrient soil. It must be equal in number:

• leafy humus;
• sand;
• sod land.

Before planting, the soil composition is abundantly moistened.

Temperature regime

Containers with aquilegia seeds are not recommended to be kept warm. The optimum temperature for their germination is 17 ° C. At the same time, seedlings should be provided with good lighting. When planting seeds in early spring, additional lighting should be provided.

Irrigation mode

For fruitful germination of seeds, a sufficient amount of moisture is necessary. Watering is carried out by spraying the soil with a spray gun. This method of moistening should also be applied when shoots appear. The main thing is to prevent stagnation of water in the soil, which can lead to the defeat of the "black leg" and the death of sprouts.

Seedling dive

Aquilegia seedlings are planted when the first three leaves appear. It is desirable to place seedlings in separate pots. But if this is not possible, then transplantation can be carried out in one large container, maintaining a distance between young plants of at least fifteen centimeters.

Growing conditions at home

Aquilegia can be kept at home. Usually the plant is taken home for the winter and kept in a pot. Immediately after planting, the flower is watered and placed in a cold room. At a temperature of plus two degrees, the culture should be from September to the end of November. In this case, the soil should be regularly sprayed with water. After keeping the aquilegia in the cold, the pot can be placed in a lighted place.

At this time, complex mineral fertilizers are applied to the soil, and additional lighting is provided in the evening. Under such conditions, the perennial should stand for a month and a half. After that, the herbaceous culture can be placed on a well-lit windowsill in a warm room. The air temperature should be between twenty and twenty-four degrees above zero.

Aquilegia is fed with complex nutrients and watered. In early spring, the plant begins to develop rapidly and bloom. The perennial can be placed back on the flower bed only after flowering has ended.

Landing in the ground

Strengthened seedlings grown from seeds are planted in open ground. Herbaceous culture blooms only in the second season, and the bush itself is finally formed only by the third year of life.

Transplant dates

Planting seedlings on the street is carried out in late May or early June, when the soil warms up enough. Seedlings are placed for rearing in a specially designated place in the garden. The plant can be planted in a flower bed at the end of summer or the next season in spring.

Step by step process

In order for aquilegia to develop well, seedlings must be properly placed in open ground:

• loosen the soil and water abundantly;
• dig separate holes at a distance of twenty-five centimeters from each other;
• at the bottom of each put rotted humus;
• carefully remove the seedlings from the pot along with the soil and place in a recess;
• sprinkle the root system with earth and lightly tamp.

The planted young plant is watered abundantly for three days.

Briefly the composition of the soil and the choice of location on the site

Aquilegia is unpretentious to the composition of the soil. But in order to create optimal conditions for its development, it is better to use loose nutrient soil. It can be enriched with organic fertilizers. Before planting seedlings, the earth is dug up in advance.

Growing features

Perennial aquilegia is a fairly shade-tolerant culture. Therefore, it is usually placed in partial shade. In sunny areas, the plant quickly fades. Flower care is easy. In the summer, they are fed with mineral nutrient mixtures and watered as the soil dries.

Seeds can also be planted in early spring immediately in open ground. At the same time, a distance between seedlings of twenty-five centimeters is observed. The earth should warm up to seventeen degrees of heat.

Good reviews are left by flower growers about planting seeds for the winter. Such sowing makes it possible to use fresh seeds collected in autumn. Before frosts, the bed is covered with a special cloth.

Propagation of aquilegia at home from seeds is considered the best way to grow a beautiful flowering perennial. In order for an unusual bright culture to please with its colorful flowering for a long time, you should select high-quality seeds and ensure proper care during its cultivation.

Aquilegia(lat. Aquilegia), columbine, columbine, elf shoe or eagle - different names for a flower loved by many gardeners from the Buttercup family. It begins to bloom in mid-May, when bright colors are so desired in the garden. Elegant inflorescences can be yellow and blue, pink and purple, snow-white and two-tone.

It's safe to say - this plant one of the brightest decorations of the awakening garden. In order for aquilegia to please with lush, luxurious flowering until July itself, you should know the rules for growing it from seeds at home.

Collection and preparation of seeds

First things to be aware of when breeding aquilegia are the seeds. They can be bought in specialized stores, but if possible, it is advisable to prepare yourself.

take a closer look to plants in neighboring summer cottages, choose the one you like.

In this case, you will be sure of identical offspring and seed freshness. Seed material loses its germination capacity every year, and its maximum shelf life is 5 years.

seeds near the catchment are extremely small. They are in brownish pods and ripen in early August. If you are not interested in self-seeding, it is better to dry unopened inflorescences at home.

When working with seeds wear gloves Note: Aquilegia seeds are poisonous.

seed material in aquilegia, it has an important feature - it needs a dormant stage. After extracting the seeds from the boxes, they should be mixed with the ground and placed in the refrigerator, where they should be stored until spring sowing. In the last 5-6 weeks, the temperature is lowered to 0°C. This procedure is called stratification.

Interesting that hot processing has a similar effect on seeds. In this case, a month before sowing, they are placed in a thermostat and the temperature is set from +34 to 36°C. The seeds are washed before sowing.

Guaranteed seedlings gives subsequent scarification, or slight damage to the hard shell of the seed. This can be done using the finest sandpaper ("zero"), on which the seeds are rolled with light pressure.

scarification can be made in another way: put the seeds on a flat, hard surface and rub them with the same sandpaper. If you doubt the expiration dates of the seeds, Zircon or Epin will help revive them.

Sowing

For growing seedlings it is necessary to prepare sufficiently deep boxes. This is due to the tap root system of the plant, in which a long main root is formed.

The soil is prepared in advance mixing in equal amounts

• sand;
• leaf humus;
• sod land.

Per day before sowing, it is placed in boxes, compacted and watered with light pink potassium permanganate. The soil should be moist, but not damp.

Sowing produce in March, scattering seeds on a leveled soil surface. It is important not to thicken the crops. They are rolled with a tin can or pressed down with a palm. From above, through a sieve, sprinkle with the same mixture with a layer of no more than 3 mm. You can sprinkle the crops with a layer of washed and calcined sand (0.5 cm).

The next action will be moistening of crops using a spray gun and arranging a mini-parnichka. To do this, the box is covered with a translucent material - glass or polyethylene, since they need diffused light to germinate seeds.

Growing seedlings

boxes with sown seeds are kept in the light at a temperature of about + 15 ° C. The best place for growing seedlings is a glazed balcony or terrace.

If they face the south side, it is necessary to shade the crops, since the aquilegia does not tolerate direct sunlight.

After the appearance first shoots(7-10 days) the film is removed from the boxes. Watering should also be small drops (from a spray bottle). Waterlogging the soil can lead to root rot disease.

pick in separate pots produced when seedlings have two or three true leaves. Delaying the picking time is fraught with damage to rapidly developing roots and long-term plant disease. The best time for picking aquilegia is early morning or evening.

Can be used found in gardening stores. In this case, the root system of plants will not suffer when transplanted to a garden plot.

Landing in open ground

grown seedlings can be planted in open ground only after the earth and air have warmed up, and the last spring frosts have passed.

When choosing a place preference should be given to areas under the crowns of trees, in partial shade. In open areas, aquilegia flowers will be smaller and the flowering period will be shorter.

Plants are planted into the pits, at the bottom of which humus or compost is added. The distance between individual specimens depends on the height of the variety.

Low-growing flowers are planted after 25 cm, tall ones - after 35-40 cm. The pots placed in the pits are sprinkled with earth and watered well.

Aquilegia blooms only in the second year, and from that time on, its flowering will be more abundant and luxurious. The plant reaches its maximum decorative effect in 3-4 years.

And for the most curious, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the video about aquilegia

I met my first aquilegia when I was 6 years old. My mother and I bought a house near the forest and at first we constantly walked there. Somehow I saw amazing blue bells and just fell in love with them. "Mom," I exclaimed. - "Let's dig one bush and plant it in our garden!"

I didn’t know then that behind our high fence, and even in the shade of old cherries and walnuts, not every flower would be happy to grow. But the aquilegia (my mother and I called it just bluebells for a long time) liked it there, and it lived with us for many years, constantly self-seeding and moving back and forth in the flower bed.

Now we have a lot of cultural aquilegia growing, but the bush of the same, wild, is still blooming.

Most packages say that catchment seeds can be stored for up to 5 years. But this does not mean that it is worth buying promotional bags, the shelf life of which is about to end: the longer the seeds lie, the more difficult they will sprout. So it is advisable to choose bags with the latest product (packaging) date.

Buying seed is not in the spring (just before planting), but in the fall. The fact is that this flower culture needs pre-planting rest in the cold. That is - in stratification. It will take a whole winter to carry it out.

You didn't have time to read this advice and bought seeds in the spring? Of course, they can germinate, but the "harvest" will be much poorer.

To give seeds a better chance, you can:

• scarify them (this is a mechanical damage to the shell - in this case, small seeds can be rolled on sandpaper, while pressing them a little);
• soak in a solution of manganese for a couple of hours (this method is also good for resurrecting old seeds), or a solution of "Zircon" or "Epin";
• soak them for a day in plain water before planting.

Collection of planting material from your own flower bed

Seeds of many noble flowers do not convey their varietal qualities, and they have to be propagated by cuttings. But not so with aquilegia. You can collect seed pods in your flower bed, sow the seeds, and get the same flowers next year.

Own collection has another plus: freshly harvested seeds have the highest germination.

Important: if you are going to propagate a flower with seeds, do not mix aquilegia of different varieties in one flower bed. Flowers can get dusty, and in the final you will get not varietal plants, but "gray-brown-raspberry" petals.

Store the seeds for no longer than 5 years in a cold, protected place from all households. The seeds of this flower are considered poisonous, so wash your hands well after all work.

Cut the seed pods in August, and not fully opened, otherwise half of the seeds will be lost even during this process. It is better to prepare them damp and dry them at home.

Sowing seeds in open ground

This has been done since autumn. Seeds can be sent to the flower bed either immediately after collection, or a little later (when you have a minute for this).

Everything is done like this:

1. Dig up the beds, level the soil with a rake.
2. Scatter the seeds, slightly cover them with soil (you can move the same rake around the flower bed, or “scatter” the soil prepared in a bucket over the seeds with your hand).
3. Gently water (and even better, spray abundantly) the flower bed.

It is advisable to immediately fence off the place with the sown seeds or somehow outline, because until spring you will safely forget where exactly you sowed the aquilegia.

By the way, for the winter (especially if it promises to be cold and snowless), it is advisable to cover the flower bed with something so that the seeds do not freeze, because they lie almost on the surface of the soil.

Such plants will bloom in the second spring.

Growing flowers in seedlings (spring sowing)

This method is considered more reliable, as it "awakens" more seeds.

First, stratify (described below is how to do this in detail).

Prepare the soil for germination. A good option: sand, sod land, leafy humus (in equal proportions).

After that, lay the seeds on top of the soil in deep boxes (you can press it in a little), lay a layer of gauze or newspaper on top, spray it. A month later, you will see sprouts - which means that the gauze can be removed.

Seed stratification

At its core, this is an imitation of the natural wintering of seeds in the ground, under snow and fallen leaves.

• Place the seeds on a moistened cotton pad (moss or sand can be used instead).
• Close it with something so that it does not dry out (you can hide it in a box with a lid, but I like zip bags more - it’s convenient to write on them what kind of plant is inside and what variety it has).
• Keep the seeds from 2 to 4 months at the lowest possible (from 0 to +4 degrees) temperature. As a rule, a refrigerator is used for this.
• From time to time, check if the fungus has appeared in the bag and if the cotton pad has dried out (if so, carefully spray it - you don’t need to water it, the seeds will disappear from excess moisture).

Some people do not use long-term cold stratification, but more accelerated heat treatment. For 5 weeks they are placed in a thermostat, which maintains a temperature of about 35 degrees.

True, experience shows that it is cold stratification that “launches” the seeds of aquilegia better.

Planting aquilegia in open ground

If you sow the seeds in March, you will have strong seedlings in May that can already be transferred to the open ground.

Leave about 20 cm of free space between the bushes. Experienced gardeners advise planting no more than 12 bushes per 1 square meter.

• Choice of landing site. Aquilegia is desirable to "settle" in partial shade. It will grow in the sun, but in this case it will not become lush - excessive light will depress the plant.
• Priming. It is good if you have loose, light soil in your yard. Although in general, the catchment is considered undemanding to the land. But of course, if yours is too “tight”, you can “fluff up” the flower bed by adding peat, vermiculite.
• Nutrition. If you add humus or compost to the soil during preplant digging, the flower will be very grateful.

When decorating a flower bed, remember: if there are a lot of flowers, that is, a mixed planting, aquilegia should be planted in the foreground. If you have undersized varieties, mix them with saxifrage, cloves, gentian. Well, high aquilegia will beautifully “sing” with irises, ferns, poppies, as well as ornamental cereals.

How to care for an adult plant

During the growth of the stems, as well as in the summer heat, water the flower well.

A young catchment can be oppressed by weeds, so weed them often. It is also desirable to loosen the soil in the flower bed, passing air to the roots of the plant.

Feed the flowers three times a season:

1. Spring. Scatter soil mixed with compost or humus on future adult bushes.
2. Start of growth. Scatter the organic again.
3. End of flowering. Support exhausted plants with a mineral complex. Suitable for you: superphosphate (65 g per sq.m.), potassium salt (25 g) or saltpeter (30 g).

If you have a tall (80 cm and above) bush, it is advisable to tie it to a support. Bamboo or reeds will look most beautiful in a flower bed. Remember: the stem of the plant is tender, do not overtighten it so as not to break it.

Do not keep the aquilegia in the flowerbed for a long time - relocate it to another place every 5 years.

Flowering and care of the plant after the petals fall

Aquilegia blooms for a month. This process can be extended if wilted flowers are cut off in time. True, in this case they will not ripen and there will be no seeds.

Faded bushes are cut to the very outlet. If they are healthy, you can compost them. But with any suspicion of rot, it is better to throw them into a fire (stove) or take them away from the site.

Other ways to propagate aquilegia

• The division of the bush. The method is rare, suitable for old plants. Divide in early spring or late summer. Dig up a healthy spreading bush, cut off excess branches, wash the roots. Divide the main root along the length so that buds and small roots remain on both sides. Plant out - the flower bed should be dug up. Treat like an adult plant.
• Cuttings. It is carried out in early spring, when the shoots are already stretching, but the leaves have not yet grown on them. The cuttings are rooted in wet sand, under a greenhouse from an inverted jar or bag, in warmth. As soon as you see strong roots (or blossoming leaves), you can transfer the resulting plants to the flower bed.

You will learn more useful information about this flower (is it possible to make bouquets from it, why exactly it is called a catchment area and much more) you will learn from this video:

And about the appearance of such a flower, people invented a beautiful legend. Of course, the main character in it is a beautiful girl. More in this video:

Plant aquilegia (lat. Aquilegia), or catchment, or eagle, belongs to the genus of herbaceous perennials of the Ranunculaceae family. According to various sources, there are from 60 to 120 plant species growing in the mountainous regions of the Northern Hemisphere. About 35 species are grown in culture. There are disagreements about the origin of the Latin name: some argue that it is formed from the words aqua - "water" and legere - "collect", while others believe that the word aquila, which means "eagle", is the basis of the name.

Aquilegia has long been known in the world of flower growers and not only. She is also mentioned in fiction, for example, in Hamlet, Ophelia offers her brother Laertes a columbine flower (as the British call aquilegia). And in the paintings of medieval artists, the aquilegia flower symbolized the presence of the Holy Spirit.

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Planting and caring for aquilegia (in brief)

• Landing: sowing seeds in the ground immediately after harvest or in March for seedlings after stratification of the seed, followed by planting seedlings in open ground in June.
• Bloom: June July.
• Lighting: bright sunlight or partial shade.
• The soil: light, loose, moist, rich in humus.
• Watering: infrequent, but regular, in dry hot weather - frequent.
• Top dressing: 1-2 times per season with full mineral or organic fertilizer in liquid form.
• Reproduction: seeds, cuttings and dividing the bush.
• Pests: aphids, spider mites, nematodes, scoop caterpillars.
• Diseases: rust, powdery mildew, gray rot.

Read more about growing aquilegia below.

Aquilegia flower - description

Aquilegia flowers have a two-year development cycle: in the first year, a renewal point is born at the base of the shoot, from which, by autumn, after flowering, a basal rosette is formed. In spring, the leaves of this rosette die off, the second generation of leaves appears, forming a rosette, from the center of which a peduncle will appear, and on it - stem leaves and flowers. The rosette leaves of aquilegia are on long petioles, twice or thrice trifoliately dissected, and the stem leaves are sessile, trifoliate. Aquilegia flowers are solitary, drooping, varying in size and color depending on the species and variety: there are blue, yellow, white, raspberry, purple, two-color flowers, and also combining several shades.

In the photo: Purple aquilegia

Flowers of many species are equipped with spurs.- hollow outgrowths of petals or sepals in which nectar accumulates. Spurred species include European and American types of aquilegia - Alpine, glandular, Olympic and ordinary, as well as blue, Canadian, Skinner, golden and Californian aquilegia. Japanese and Chinese species of aquilegia have flowers without spurs. The fruit of aquilegia is a multi-leaf, small shiny black poisonous seeds remain viable for about a year.

Growing aquilegia from seeds

How to grow aquilegia from seeds? It is best to sow aquilegia in the ground immediately after collecting the seeds, and in the spring, when shoots appear, transplant them to a permanent place. But if you have to postpone sowing until spring, then store the seed at a low temperature.

So that during the winter the seeds of aquilegia do not lose their germination, they are mixed with the ground and placed in the refrigerator.

In the spring, in March, the seeds are washed from the ground, sown in boxes with a well-compacted and watered light substrate of humus, sand and leafy soil in equal proportions. A layer of soil of 3 mm is poured on top of the spread out seeds through a fine sieve and the box is covered with newspaper or burlap. Keep containers with crops in a shaded room at a temperature of 16-18 ºC, moistening the topsoil as needed from a spray bottle. Sprouts usually appear after a week or two from the date of sowing. When the first pair of true leaves appear - usually in late April or early May - the seedlings are transplanted into more nutritious loamy soil.

Landing aquilegia

When to plant aquilegia

Aquilegia sprouts are planted in open ground in June, but not in a permanent place, but for growing. Be sure to shade young plants from the scorching sun. In the place where they will grow for several years, grown stronger and grown young aquilegia are planted in August or next spring. A place for planting matured aquilegia can be in partial shade and in the sun. In brightly lit places, their flowering period is somewhat shorter, and the flowers are smaller and weaker than those specimens that grow in partial shade. Aquilegia, grown from seeds, blooms in the second year, and reaches full maturity in the third.

In the photo: Red aquilegia in the garden

How to plant aquilegia

Aquilegia is a plant undemanding to soils, but still it grows better on loose, light, moist humus soils. To improve the composition of the soil, dig it up before planting aquilegia with humus or compost at the rate of one bucket of fertilizer per 1 m³. The digging depth is about 20 cm. Aquilegia is planted in such a way that 10-12 plants are located on one square meter - depending on the variety or species. Tall forms of aquilegia are planted at a distance of 40 cm from each other, undersized - at a distance of 25 cm.

Keep in mind that aquilegia tends to scatter seeds into the soil, so be prepared to fight self-seeding.

But some flower growers allow plants to grow by self-sowing, because after 5-6 years, when the bushes you planted grow old and lose their decorative effect, they can be dug up, leaving young plants that have grown independently in the flower bed.

Aquilegia Care

How to care for aquilegia

As usual, the main care for aquilegia consists of watering, fertilizing, loosening and weeding the soil around the plant during the period of active growth. Aquilegia loves to drink, but since its root system goes deep into the ground, it rarely suffers from a lack of moisture, except in severe drought. Remove weeds in time, especially while seedlings are young and low; loosen the soil after watering or rain so that moisture does not evaporate from the surface layer of the soil quickly and feed the aquilegia so that it finds its best shape. Fertilize areas with aquilegia twice during the summer: mineral fertilizers at the beginning of active growth - 50 g of superphosphate, 15 g of potassium salt and 25 g of saltpeter per 1 m² and a non-concentrated solution of mullein at the rate of 1 bucket per 1 m². Two top dressings in the summer is enough.

Pictured: Watershed cultivation

Reproduction of aquilegia

In addition to the seed method for propagating aquilegia, vegetative methods are also used in floriculture - by dividing the bush and cuttings.

The division of the bush used only in extreme cases, when it is necessary to preserve some particularly valuable form or variety. The fact is that the root system of aquilegia lies very deep, and fragile roots do not tolerate the procedure of transplantation and division. If you still had to resort to this method, select a bush of 3-5 years of age in early spring or early autumn, dig it out, very carefully so as not to damage the small roots, wash them off the ground, cut off all the shoots at a height of 5-7 cm and all leaves, except for two or three of the youngest, then cut the taproot in half lengthwise so that each half has two or three renewal buds and several small roots, sprinkle the cut with crushed coal and plant the delenki in boxes with a light but nutritious soil mixture . Most likely, they will be sick for a long time.

But most often aquilegia is sick powdery mildew- a white fungal coating appears on the leaves and stems, under which the leaves curl, turn brown and die. To get rid of the fungus, it is necessary to spray the plants with a solution of colloidal sulfur with green soap.

Of the insects, the enemies of aquilegia are aphids, spider mites, scoops and nematodes. Against aphids and spider mites, Actellik preparations, yarrow paste and Karbofos have proven themselves well.

But with nematodes it is very difficult to fight and often in the end you just have to change the site, and plant those plants that are not afraid of nematodes on the affected flower bed - onions, cereals, garlic. Sick plants are burned.

Aquilegia after flowering

When the aquilegia fades, the stems that have lost their decorative effect are cut off to the very rosette of leaves. Parts of healthy plants can be used for compost, while diseased specimens should be burned to avoid contaminating the soil and other plants. If you want to try the seed method of propagation, leave flower stalks with flowers of the varieties you need for the seeds to ripen, putting gauze bags on the fruit to avoid self-seeding. After flowering, you can do the division of the bush and at the same time planting plants. At the same time, in September-October, seeds are sown before winter.

In the photo: Aquilegia grown from seeds

Aquilegia in winter

There is one more type of work that needs to be done after flowering aquilegia. The fact is that in four-five-year-old plants, the roots begin to bulge out of the ground, from which young leaves and shoots suffer, therefore, after removing the peduncle, you need to pour peat-dung compost with humus under the bush to cover these roots. Thus, aquilegia will receive top dressing before winter and at the same time will be protected from frost by mulch.

Plant lupine in the garden - a beautiful flower and green manure

Types and varieties of aquilegia

Despite the fact that aquilegia in nature has about 120 species, not so many of them have been introduced into culture. The following species are most often cultivated.

Alpine Aquilegia (Aquilegia alpina)

A low (up to 30 cm) plant that can grow up to 80 cm in height on rich soils. Alpine aquilegia has large flowers - up to 8 cm in diameter, of different shades of blue, spurs are short and curved. This species blooms in late June-early July;

In the photo: Alpine Aquilegia (Aquilegia alpina)

Aquilegia fan-shaped (Aquilegia flabellata)

Or aquilegia akita , a plant up to 60 cm high with trifoliate long-leaved leaves of a basal rosette, with flowers 5-6 cm in diameter with long, strongly curved spurs. The flowers on the peduncle are from one to five, they are blue-lilac in color with a white fuzzy border around the edge. This type of aquilegia is winter-hardy, grows well, because it gives self-seeding;

In the photo: Aquilegia fan-shaped, Akita (Aquilegia flabellata)

Common Aquilegia (Aquilegia vulgaris)

European species 40-80 cm tall with flowers 5 cm in diameter in different shades of blue and purple, but in cultivation numerous varieties of this type of aquilegia are usually grown with flowers of a wide variety of colors, simple, double, with spurs or without spurs. This is the most frost-resistant type of aquilegia - it can withstand up to -35 ºC;

In the photo: Common Aquilegia (Aquilegia vulgaris)

Aquilegia hybrid (Aquilegia hybrida)

Which combines various forms, most often obtained from crossing American species with common aquilegia. In height, depending on the variety, it grows from 50 cm to 1 m. Spurs in hybrids of different lengths, there are also spurless varieties, flowers are large, up to 9 cm in diameter, both simple and double;

(lat. Aquilegia), or catchment, or eagle, belongs to the genus of herbaceous perennials of the Ranunculaceae family. According to various sources, there are from 60 to 120 plant species growing in the mountainous regions of the Northern Hemisphere. About 35 species are grown in culture. There are disagreements about the origin of the Latin name: some argue that it is formed from the words aqua - "water" and legere - "collect", while others believe that the word aquila, which means "eagle", is the basis of the name. Aquilegia has long been known in the world of flower growers and not only. She is also mentioned in fiction, for example, in Hamlet, Ophelia offers her brother Laertes a columbine flower (as the British call aquilegia). And in the paintings of medieval artists, the aquilegia flower symbolized the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Aquilegia flower - description

Aquilegia flowers have a two-year development cycle: in the first year, a renewal point is born at the base of the shoot, from which, by autumn, after flowering, a basal rosette is formed. In spring, the leaves of this rosette die off, a second generation of leaves appears, forming a rosette, from the center of which a peduncle will appear, and on it - stem leaves and flowers. The rosette leaves of aquilegia are on long petioles, twice or thrice trifoliately dissected, and the stem leaves are sessile, trifoliate. Aquilegia flowers are solitary, drooping, varying in size and color depending on the species and variety: there are blue, yellow, white, raspberry, purple, two-color flowers, and also combining several shades. The flowers of many species are equipped with spurs - hollow outgrowths of petals or sepals in which nectar accumulates. Spurred species include European and American types of aquilegia - Alpine, glandular, Olympic and ordinary, as well as blue, Canadian, Skinner, golden and Californian aquilegia. Japanese and Chinese species of aquilegia have flowers without spurs. The fruit of aquilegia is a multi-leaf, small shiny black poisonous seeds remain viable for about a year.

Growing aquilegia from seeds

How to grow aquilegia from seeds? It is best to sow aquilegia in the ground immediately after collecting the seeds, and in the spring, when shoots appear, transplant them to a permanent place. But if you have to postpone sowing until spring, then store the seed at a low temperature. So that during the winter the seeds of aquilegia do not lose their germination, they are mixed with the ground and placed in the refrigerator. In the spring, in March, the seeds are washed from the ground, sown in boxes with a well-compacted and watered light substrate of humus, sand and leafy soil in equal proportions. A layer of soil of 3 mm is poured on top of the spread out seeds through a fine sieve and the box is covered with newspaper or burlap. Keep containers with crops in a shaded room at a temperature of 16-18 ºC, moistening the topsoil as needed from a spray bottle. Sprouts usually appear after a week or two from the date of sowing. When the first pair of true leaves appear - usually in late April or early May - the seedlings are transplanted into more nutritious loamy soil.

Landing aquilegia

When to plant aquilegia.

Aquilegia sprouts are planted in open ground in June, but not in a permanent place, but for growing. Be sure to shade young plants from the scorching sun. In the place where they will grow for several years, grown stronger and grown young aquilegia are planted in August or next spring. A place for planting matured aquilegia can be in partial shade and in the sun. In brightly lit places, their flowering period is somewhat shorter, and the flowers are smaller and weaker than those specimens that grow in partial shade. Aquilegia, grown from seeds, blooms in the second year, and reaches full maturity in the third.

How to plant aquilegia.

Aquilegia is a plant undemanding to soils, but still it grows better on loose, light, moist humus soils. To improve the composition of the soil, dig it up before planting aquilegia with humus or compost at the rate of one bucket of fertilizer per 1 m³. The digging depth is approximately 20 cm. Aquilegia is planted in such a way that 10-12 plants are located on one square meter - depending on the variety or species. Tall forms of aquilegia are planted at a distance of 40 cm from each other, undersized - at a distance of 25 cm. Please note that aquilegia tends to scatter seeds into the soil, so be prepared to fight self-sowing. But some flower growers allow plants to grow by self-sowing, because after 5-6 years, when the bushes you planted grow old and lose their decorative effect, they can be dug up, leaving young plants that have grown independently in the flower bed.

Aquilegia - care

How to care for aquilegia.

As usual, the main care for aquilegia consists of watering, fertilizing, loosening and weeding the soil around the plant during the period of active growth. Aquilegia loves to drink, but since its root system goes deep into the ground, it rarely suffers from a lack of moisture, except in severe drought. Remove weeds in time, especially while seedlings are young and low; loosen the soil after watering or rain so that moisture does not evaporate from the surface layer of the soil quickly and feed the aquilegia so that it finds its best shape. Fertilize areas with aquilegia twice a summer: with mineral fertilizers at the beginning of active growth - 50 g of superphosphate, 15 g of potassium salt and 25 g of saltpeter per 1 m² and a non-concentrated solution of mullein at the rate of 1 bucket per 1 m². Two top dressings in the summer is enough.

Reproduction of aquilegia.

In addition to the seed method for propagation of aquilegia, vegetative methods are also used in floriculture - by dividing the bush and cuttings. The division of the bush is used only in extreme cases, when it is necessary to preserve some particularly valuable form or variety. The fact is that the root system of aquilegia lies very deep, and fragile roots do not tolerate the procedure of transplantation and division. If you still had to resort to this method, select a bush of 3-5 years of age in early spring or early autumn, dig it out, very carefully so as not to damage the small roots, wash them off the ground, cut off all the shoots at a height of 5-7 cm and all leaves, except for two or three of the youngest, then cut the taproot in half lengthwise so that each half has two or three renewal buds and several small roots, sprinkle the cut with crushed coal and plant the delenki in boxes with a light but nutritious soil mixture . Most likely, they will be sick for a long time.

Propagation of aquilegia by cuttings is much easier. In the spring, while the leaves have not yet blossomed, the young shoot of aquilegia is cut out “with a heel”, the lower end is treated with root and planted in a greenhouse or in the ground, but under a plastic bottle in loose soil, and preferably in river sand somewhere shaded from the sun . It will be necessary to water the stalk without removing the shelter, which can be removed for ventilation only after ten days. Rooting takes about 3-4 weeks, after which the stalk is dug up and transplanted to a permanent place.

Pests and diseases of aquilegia.

Of the diseases that affect aquilegia, powdery mildew, gray rot and rust should be mentioned. Parts of the plant affected by gray mold must be removed and burned, as well as leaves stained with rust. But if gray rot cannot be cured with any preparations, then rust can be fought by spraying with sulfur-containing preparations or a soapy solution with copper sulphate. But most often, aquilegia suffers from powdery mildew - a white fungal coating appears on the leaves and stems, under which the leaves curl, turn brown and die. To get rid of the fungus, it is necessary to spray the plants with a solution of colloidal sulfur with green soap.

Of the insects, the enemies of aquilegia are aphids, spider mites, scoops and nematodes. Actellik, yarrow paste and karbofos have proven themselves against aphids and spider mites. But it is very difficult to deal with nematodes and often in the end you just have to change the site, and plant those plants that are not afraid of nematodes - onions, cereals, garlic - on the affected flower bed. Sick plants are burned.

Aquilegia after flowering

When the aquilegia fades, the stems that have lost their decorative effect are cut off to the very rosette of leaves. Parts of healthy plants can be used for compost, while diseased specimens should be burned to avoid contaminating the soil and other plants. If you want to try the seed method of propagation, leave flower stalks with flowers of the varieties you need for the seeds to ripen, putting gauze bags on the fruit to avoid self-seeding. After flowering, you can do the division of the bush and at the same time planting plants. At the same time, in September-October, seeds are sown before winter.

Aquilegia in winter

There is one more type of work that needs to be done after flowering aquilegia. The fact is that in four-five-year-old plants, the roots begin to bulge out of the ground, from which young leaves and shoots suffer, therefore, after removing the peduncle, you need to pour peat-dung compost with humus under the bush to cover these roots. Thus, aquilegia will receive top dressing before winter and at the same time will be protected from frost by mulch.

Types of aquilegia

Despite the fact that aquilegia in nature has about 120 species, not so many of them have been introduced into culture. The following species are most often cultivated.

Alpine Aquilegia (Aquilegia alpina)

- a low (up to 30 cm) plant that can grow up to 80 cm in height on rich soils. Alpine aquilegia has large flowers - up to 8 cm in diameter, of different shades of blue, spurs are short and curved. This species blooms in late June-early July;

Aquilegia fan-shaped (Aquilegia flabellata),

or Akita, a plant up to 60 cm high with trifoliate long-leaved leaves of a basal rosette, with flowers 5-6 cm in diameter with long, strongly curved spurs. The flowers on the peduncle are from one to five, they are blue-lilac in color with a white fuzzy border around the edge. This type of aquilegia is winter-hardy, grows well, because it gives self-seeding;

Common Aquilegia (Aquilegia vulgaris)

- a European species 40-80 cm in height with flowers 5 cm in diameter of different shades of blue and purple, but in culture numerous varieties of this type of aquilegia are usually grown with flowers of various colors, simple, double, with spurs or without spurs. This is the most frost-resistant type of aquilegia - it can withstand up to -35 ºC;

Aquilegia hybrid (Aquilegia hybrida),

which combines various forms, most often obtained from crossing American species with Aquilegia vulgaris. In height, depending on the variety, it grows from 50 cm to 1 m. Spurs in hybrids of different lengths, there are also spurless varieties, flowers are large, up to 9 cm in diameter, both simple and double;

Aquilegia golden-flowered (Aquilegia chrysantha)

- a species from North America, characterized by large non-drooping golden flowers with long spurs. Surprisingly winter-hardy, drought-resistant. In our latitudes, it is not yet a frequent visitor, but the interest in him among flower growers has recently increased greatly;

Aquilegia dark (Aquilegia atrata)

- European species 30-80 cm high with bluish leaves and dark purple drooping flowers 3-4 cm in diameter, short curved spurs and protruding stamens. Blooms in late May-early June. Likes semi-shade. It is the base species for breeding varieties with dark flowers. Looks good in flower arrangements and cut;

Aquilegia olympica (Aquilegia olympica)

- originally from the Caucasus, from Iran and Asia Minor, 30-60 cm in height, densely pubescent stem, large, up to 10 cm in diameter, light blue flowers with long spurs. Blooms from mid-May to mid-June;

Aquilegia skinneri (Aquilegia skinneri)

- originally from North America, winter-hardy (up to -12 ºC). The flowers are drooping, red-yellow, straight spurs.

In addition to the listed types of aquilegia, which are of interest among flower growers, such species as aquilegia acute sepals, aquilegia small-flowered, blue aquilegia, bicolor aquilegia, Bertoloni aquilegia, glandular aquilegia, green-flowered aquilegia, Siberian aquilegia, ecalcarata aquilegia and some others are grown in culture.