Aquilegia vulgaris

columbine

Eventual height & spread

Aquilegia vulgaris

columbine

  • approx 25 seeds
  • £2.99
  • In stock (shipped within 3-5 working days)
Delivery options
  • Seed Packets (only) £2.95
  • Named Day £10.95
  • Position: Full sun or partial shade
  • Soil: Fertile, moist, well-drained soil
  • Rate of growth: Average
  • Hardiness: Fully hardy


  • Charming bonnet-like flowers with hooked spurs, nod gracefully from the branching, upright stems in late spring and early summer. The lush green foliage is ferny and forms pretty mounds that add a light texture to the planting scheme. These charming columbines are easy to grow and are useful for herbaceous borders and cottage gardens as well as more naturalised planting schemes including prairies. They will usually self-seed freely, but they are quite promiscuous plants that hybridise freely. Therefore if there are other aquilegias in your garden, it is possible that the next generation of plants will vary from their parent plants.

  • Garden care: Lift and divide large clumps in early spring and apply a generous 5-7cm (2-3in) mulch of well-rotted manure or garden compost around the plant. Divided specimens may take some time to establish since they don't like having their roots disturbed. Deadhead to prolong flowering.

  • Sowing instructions:
    In autumn, surface-sow on moist compost in small pots or seed trays and keep them in a greenhouse or cold frame at 15 to 20°C. Germination can be slow (up to 3 months) but seedlings should be thinned out as they grow on and over-wintered under glass before planting out after hardening off in spring. Alternatively, spring sowing can be undertaken as before, often without the need for heat.


  • Sow: March to June or September to October

  • Flowering: May to June

  • Approximate quantity: 25 seeds

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