Growing Aquilegia

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Aquilegia is an unpretentious and beautiful perennial

“Aquilegia is one of the most unpretentious ornamental plants that can be used to decorate a plot. The external simplicity of aquilegia is related to the exquisite charm of this flower, although it does not capture the eye the first time. Taking a closer look, you understand - the flower is truly unique."

Aquilegia (Aquilegia), or in the common people, the catchment is an elegant flowering plant with a very decorative, delicate and collected in rather large and spreading rosettes of foliage and numerous single, or collected in loose panicles, flowers sitting on long refined peduncles of impressive height (up to a meter, and sometimes more).

The flowers of aquilegia themselves are quite large, up to 10 centimeters in diameter, they have different colors, but more often they delight us with white, pale cream, bright yellow, pink, lilac, carmine. Aquilegia flowers are often bicolored. The corolla of the flower is five-petaled, has thin and extremely graceful spurs up to 5-7 centimeters long, it is these spurs that give the aquilegia flower such a unique, elegant look.

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One peduncle of this plant can have up to 12 flowers, which bloom in late May and until the end of July delight our eyes. After the gorgeous buds have bloomed, the smart green of the cut leaves will maintain the fading decorative effect until late summer.

Aquilegia is used, also thanks to its leaves, in almost all types of flower decoration. Plants are most in demand in the formation of mixborders, they are great in group plantings, and low varieties are excellent in rockeries. Aquilegia's ability to tolerate shade allows it to be used as a decoration for shady areas. The inflorescences, crowned with graceful flowers, are good for cutting, as well as for composing various flower arrangements and arrangements.

Agricultural technology aquilegia

Aquilegia is one of the least demanding crops. Her unpretentiousness can only be envied, the culture grows well and blooms not only in open sunny areas, but also in partial shade, and even in the shade.

Often, because of this feature, aquilegia is even referred to as shade-loving plants, but this is not entirely true, aquilegia rather requires moderate lighting. In an area that is too open, it may experience shredding of flowers and a slight reduction in the flowering period.

Soil requirements

As for soil types, aquilegia feels quite well on the vast majority of them, but prefers loose and humus ones. Aquilegia is very fond of moisture, no wonder its old name is catchment. The soil where aquilegia grows should be constantly moist, and in hot weather it is advisable to spray the plants themselves. It is better to water by sprinkling, because in addition to the undoubted biological benefits of such irrigation, there is also an aesthetic benefit: watered plants with droplets of moisture on the surface of leaves and flowers look just great - truly a catchment!

As for winter hardiness, aquilegia can be classified as winter-hardy, and therefore there is no need to come up with any additional means of sheltering plants, there will be enough snow for it.

From the care work, first of all, it should be noted the need to remove the aerial part immediately after the leaves die off, because immediately after this operation, new parts of the plant begin to grow, and by autumn small graceful bushes are formed.

Reproduction of aquilegia

It is worth saying about reproduction, as a rule, this is a seed method, however, flower growers often use the division of bushes. Sow with freshly harvested seeds in autumn or spring, sometimes seedlings are grown, which are planted in early summer.

Seeds sown in spring must be covered with some covering material, there are a huge number of them on sale now, and from above you need to water the crops with warm water. This should be done at least once every three days, in small volumes, no more than 2-3 liters per square meter. After about a month, the first shoots appear, by this time the covering material should be removed. Seedlings grow rather slowly, they can be planted in a permanent place from the garden no earlier than August. The next year, around the beginning of June, the plants will bloom and will delight the eyes of gardeners with their beauty for about a month.

We must not forget that aquilegia plants, alas, do not differ in durability: already in the third season you can see a rather depressing picture - sparse and small bushes, so it is recommended to periodically renew the plantings. Self-seeding will help in this, the plants reproduce well for them - it is enough to separate the seedlings and plant them in a new place, which must be pre-prepared by adding a bucket of humus or compost per square meter of the flower bed.

Top dressing

To ensure the best decorative effect, the plants need to be fed; small doses of root dressings are ideal for this. The first of them is made in early spring, the second - at the beginning of flowering (nitrophobic or urea - a teaspoon in a bucket of water), and the third - after flowering (urea and potassium sulfate in the same dose).

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Which aquilegia variety should you choose?

Now the leaders in the aquilegia market are the following varieties:

The yellow queen is a graceful plant with openwork gray-green leaves and golden-yellow flowers with long spurs, gathered in branched panicles. Flowering is very abundant and quite long - in May and June. Of the positive properties of the variety, one can note its cold resistance, shade tolerance and relative drought resistance. This variety, which is well propagated by seeds, is used for group planting, creating curbs and for cutting.

The Barlow series are terry varieties that are ideal for cutting. Plants are distinguished by openwork, bluish leaves and a spreading bush, reaching a height of 80 centimeters. The flowers are relatively large, double, and have a short spur. The first flowers appear in May, the last can be seen in July. The plant is quite cold-resistant, grows well in the shade, on fertilized and moderately moist soils. It can be cultivated in one place for five years.

This series is perfect for group planting in flower beds and curbs, as well as for cutting. When using cut flowers, remember to cut them when the very first flowers bloom. This series reproduces well by seeds, which are best sown in early June to a depth of no more than 0.5 cm. Usually, seedlings appear quite amicably already on the 20th day. After the seedlings get a little stronger, they need to be thinned out, leaving a distance of 20-25 centimeters between them. With this care, the plants will bloom in the second year.

Variety William Guinness. These are graceful flowers, distinguished by a rare color for aquilegia. Plants of this variety are very graceful, have openwork, bluish leaves. The aquilegia bush is quite spreading, it often exceeds a height of 70 centimeters. The flowers of this variety are rather large, more than 4 centimeters in diameter with a short spur, purple in color with a snow-white corolla. Plants of the William Guinness variety bloom for quite a long time - from May to July. Of its positive qualities, it should be noted cold resistance, shade-loving and relative drought resistance.

Its plants are excellent as group plantings in flower beds, in grassy borders, its flowers are also good for bouquets. The variety is propagated by sowing seeds in May. Seedlings bloom in the second year.

Now in the flower market, the Dutch variety Gigant Mac Kanna is in significant demand. It is a graceful perennial reaching a height of 80 centimeters. The variety is distinguished by openwork leaves, large flowers of various colors. It is good for decorating borders, balconies, flower beds and rabatki. Recommended for planting in open ground no earlier than May, preferably under a film, followed by picking plants to a permanent place.

You can grow it with seedlings, but then you need to sow it no later than mid-March. When sown to a depth of 0.5 centimeters, the first shoots appear in two weeks. The variety is good in that it easily tolerates partial shade, grows in one place for up to four years, is an unpretentious, moisture-loving and fairly winter-hardy plant. Plants of this variety usually bloom in the second year after sowing and bloom for about a month.