Aquilegia vulgaris
Garden columbine, Our Lady’s glove, grandmother’s bonnet, columbine: this last name comes from the Latin columba, meaning dove — viewed from the side, the flower’s five curved spurs resemble a circle of birds drinking together. A quintessential cottage garden plant, it self-seeds and crosses freely to offer new colors every year.
Characteristics:
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Spur-shaped flowers: a unique silhouette in blue, violet, mauve, pink, or white, from May to June.
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Great diversity: it crosses spontaneously and produces ever-changing colors over the years.
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Very hardy perennial: it withstands harsh winters without protection.
Precautions:
- All parts of the plant, especially the seeds, are toxic if ingested. Do not consume them and keep them out of the reach of children and pets.
Sowing advice:
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Exposure: full sun or light shade; in warm regions, partial shade is preferable.
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Soil: moist, relatively rich, and above all well drained. It enjoys woodland-edge soils that are rich in humus and never dry out in summer, but it dislikes stagnant moisture in winter. Adding compost is beneficial.
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Method: cold stratification significantly improves germination. Then sow in spring, on the surface or barely covered, as the seeds need light. Be patient: flowering generally occurs in the second year.
Planting advice:
- Transplant young plants into beds, rock gardens, borders, or balcony containers, spacing them 30 cm apart: their taproots do not tolerate late transplanting well.
Care advice:
- Water regularly but moderately, keeping the soil moist without waterlogging it.
- Cut back after flowering to encourage fresh foliage, or leave a few flower stalks to set seed for natural reseeding.
Beneficial pairings:
- It combines well with other partial-shade perennials such as honesty and forget-me-nots, with which it shares spring flowering and a preference for cool conditions.
Benefits for biodiversity:
- Its long nectar-bearing spurs are reserved for long-tongued insects: bumblebees are its principal visitors. Some, whose tongues are too short, even pierce the spur at the base to steal the nectar — a behavior that can be observed in the garden.
- Its spring flowering occurs at a time when food resources are still limited.
Uses:
- Strictly ornamental: beds, rock gardens, borders, balcony containers, and cottage gardens. Its flowers hold up well in bouquets.
Symbolism:
A flower of medieval gardens, columbine appears in numerous tapestries and illuminated manuscripts. Its five dove-shaped spurs have given it rich spiritual symbolism.
Harvesting your own seeds:
Allow a few flowers to form their upright follicles, then harvest them as soon as they turn brown and before they open at the top. Be aware that columbines cross very easily with one another: your seedlings will produce surprise colors, which is also part of their charm. See saving your seeds.
Commitment to Quality: at SemiSauvage - Permaculture, we grow and select our seeds with respect for all living things as our guiding principle. Based near the Auvergne Volcanoes, we choose open-pollinated, non-hybrid varieties, tested for their germination rate, carefully sorted and packaged, with no chemical treatment. Our conviction: to give gardeners back the ability to reseed, year after year, seeds that truly belong to them.
Add a touch of old-fashioned charm to your garden with these garden columbine seeds.
