Re: Identity of Aquilegia (was Hummingbird Feeder)
Diane wrote:
>
> Many birds arrived early two years ago after the
> El Nino storms down south drove them out ahead of schedule.
> I have about 200 locations reporting to me as we track their
> return to Vancouver Island and time and again, the birds
> will go directly to where the feeder hung last year, whether
> it is there or not.
>
> Something they appreciate in my garden is an old-fashioned
> early columbine from several generations of my family's
> gardens - I keep looking for a proper name for it but have
> never seen it in my extensive botanical library - we call it
> Grannies' Bonnets. It is self-seeded everywhere in white,
> pink, lilac and purple - kind of dumpy almost double
> flowers. They just love it to start the season off with
> (later, I love the mounds of turquoise foliage).
I too have either the same or a very similar Aquilegia. The original
seed came from the garden of an elderly lady for whom I once worked. I
have all the colours you mention but also two blues, a pretty pale blue
and a somewhat darker one. The pinks come in every shade from a deepish
salmon and a rose to very pale pink shades. Unfortunately the paler and
less interesting pinks often predominate. When I am feeling energetic I
pull some of the wishy-washy ones out to try and improve things. Many
are single, but various degrees of doublness also occur. Occasionally
they produce bicolours. I do have a most attractive one of these in deep
violet and white and to my pleasure it seems to breed true to the
colours, though some plants produce single flowers and others doubles
(but presumably from the same basic parent as they grow alongside one
another). I did not have the really blue shades originally, but I
suspect they may have arisen from crossing with A alpina which I grew at
one time.
When I first had this strain, I also grew a few long-spurred columbines,
but these gradually died out and have not been replaced. They did not
grow near my precious Grannybonnets and I have no reason to think they
ever crossed as I have never spotted any long or straight spurs on my
"Grannies".
I have always just assumed these were either A vulgaris (single or
Fl.Pl) or close to it, as the simpler forms at least seem to conform to
the botanical descriptions I have and also to several illustrations,
especially in having the characteristic curved spurs. However, before
writing this I went out in the garden and checked (they are here just at
the height of their year's flowering) and I actually found a couple of
individuals which were not only extremely double, but HAD NO SPURS AT
ALL. The top of the flower was simply rounded off. It seems as though
evolution may be alive and well and operating in my garden!!
Whatever their origin, I find them a most satisfactory flower, as they
plant themselves with such pleasing artistry in many parts of my rather
shady garden and fill a slight gap between the most brilliant of the
spring flowering and the later summer richness. I also love their bluish
leaves which persist as a gentle groundcover right through the year,
sometimes taking on subtile purplish shades in winter.
Moira
--
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata (near Wellington, capital city of New Zealand)
