Aquilegia – Columbine. (Granny's Bonnets)
Hardy Perennial
2 to 4 feet.
Many colours, June to July.

It is difficult for anyone who knows the plant not to become enthusiastic about the Columbine.
It is absolutely hardy, lasting and easy to raise and grow; it flowers at a time when there is apt to be a gap in the garden chronicle between the last of the spring bulbs and the first of the summer display; and its blooms are unlike anything else in their grace of form and contrasts of delicate colour.

Seldom have the hybridists such good reason to congratulate themselves as in the case of the Aquilegias.
The older varieties show for the most part a rather lifeless colouring, slaty blues, dull clarets and undistinguished pinks; and many of them are so double as entirely to destroy the characteristic form of the flower.
The only sorts worth growing in this class are a large single blue, not unlike the wild type, and a very free-flowering single white.
The newer discoveries and cross-breeds are almost all singles, in which the “doves’ heads” of the original Columbine are elongated into tails or spurs, and the petals show remarkably pure light colours, either “self” or contrasted in the same flower.
One of the best amongst these is chrysantha, a tall grower with a most satisfactory and accommodating constitution and flowers of a lovely clear yellow.

Glandulosa and coerulea have contrasts of blue and white; Skinneri has rather small flowers with yellow petals and orange scarlet spurs. But whatever sorts are grown, room must be found for the class described by the growers as “Hybrids” or “selected Hybrids”. These are long-tailed and mostly two-coloured, showing such combinations as rose and primrose, yellow and amethyst, pink and cream, mauve and white, and many shades of blue.

Aquilegias may be planted in groups of two or three, or even singly, in perennial or mixed borders; but if possible, a patch or bed of them should be grown together – from a dozen plants to a couple of hundred – because the perfect harmony of many tints is one of the greatest charms of the race.
They will flower freely in quite shady places and under trees (not evergreens); the best position is perhaps one which gets all the morning sun and is in shade from about 2 p.m.
The soil should be fairly good and must not be too droughty. In making up quarters for Columbines trench in the autumn some old hotbed manure, and mix leaf-mould and road-grit in the upper strata.
The plants should be put out in October, about a foot apart every way, and as soon as growth is visible in the spring, they should have a good top-dressing of leaf-mould, old manure, wood-ashes and a little soot. Scattered round and between the crowns.
As a rule the flower stems stand pretty stiffly; but old-established plants which send up a sheaf of bloom will probably need the support of a stick or two and a loop of bass.
When the flowering is over, cut down the stems, and at the autumn tidying-up weed the ground between the plants and fork it lightly over.

If the soil is cold and clayey or otherwise unkindly sow the seed in boxes of light soil, well drained, and stand the boxes in the shade of a north wall, or under a frame light with a mat on it.
In soils in which small seeds (such as hardy annuals) are raised without difficulty, sow in shallow drills in a well-prepared bed in the open, and shade the patch till the seedlings begin to appear.
Sowings, whether in boxes or in the ground, should be made about the first week in June.
As soon as the plants are large enough to handle, prick out four inches apart in rows on a nice open piece of soil, keep the ground clean, and plant out in the final positions in October.

It is unfortunate that the choicer Columbines are not of quite such tough constitutions as are the coarser sorts; it is the case with many flowers, and some other things besides.
After a bed has stood three or four years, some of the plants will be the picture of gross health, and some will be invalid-ish.
It will be found that the thriving specimens have in almost every case the coarser flowers.
It may be noted that Chrysantha seems proof against this deterioration and will flower finely in one spot for seven or eight years at least.
To maintain a collection of all the best kinds, seen should be sown every third, if not every other year.