According to their popularity, garden plants are divided into common and little-known. So, in certain regions, few cultures can compete with flowers such as aquilegia. It is also called the eagle, the mysterious flower of the elves. And the most common name for aquilegia is a catchment. Finds its application in landscaping different in their landscape areas near country houses and in personal plots next to our favorite summer cottages. It is widely used in industrial culture to create interiors of culture parks, design exhibitions.
Distribution in private households is often associated with popular belief, which says that aquilegia flowers are able to protect the house, land and their owners from the evil eye, envy of neighbors and various types of damage. In the distant Middle Ages, this plant was considered almost the only effective amulet against the attack of evil pitchforks, witches, gnomes and other evil spirits.
Currently, it can be found both on the shelves of flower shops as part of beautiful expositions, and in the design of flower beds in various areas. We offer you a photo of aquilegia in various plantings:
Description of the aquilegia flower and its photo
You can familiarize yourself with the description of the aquilegia flower and see a photo of this amazing garden plant on this page.
First of all, it is worth noting the unusual combination of velvety, as if woven from lace, delicate foliage and bizarre buds in their shape and colors. The aquilegia flower has an unusually colored vegetative green mass. This is a rich blue-green shade with a waxy bluish bloom. The shape of the deciduous mass is also attractive. Each leaf has a trifoliate structure, densely clasping the entire stem of the peduncle and bush. Excellent decorative properties of the bush remain until late autumn.
Aquilegia flowers are perennial types of garden plants and are grown in culture in a permanent place for 4 to 6 years. After this, a transplant to a new site is required, since an accumulation of pests and diseases can occur, which make flowering scarce and not as expressive as in the first years of life.
An excellent option for a decorative combination in the formation of landscape design is a spectacular combination of colors of aquilegia and conifers, such as Korean fir or European spruce. The surprising combination of these large-sized ones with the graceful aquilegia flowers creates a Mediterranean design style with unusual lightness and delightful contrast. It can also be used for planting next to an ornamental pond in a backyard in combination with other coastal plants.
For planting in rockeries and for landscaping an alpine slide, a careful selection of aquilegia varieties is required, taking into account the flowering period, plant height and spreading of the bush. The same goes for planting in flower beds. According to botanical data, this flower is able to bloom profusely for 1 month. With good care, the flowering period is up to 7 weeks. The rest of the time it is just an ornamental bush with magnificent foliage and dense vegetative mass.
We invite you to familiarize yourself with the description and photos of aquilegia varieties that can be grown in your garden.
Aquilegia varieties, hybrid and ordinary
In garden culture, various varieties of aquilegia are used, which are divided into large groups depending on the height of the bush, the length of the peduncle, and the shape of the bud. Most often in gardens you can find common aquilegia with a simple non-double flower structure and abundant green deciduous mass. Its flowering period is rather short. The common aquilegia flower is distinguished by a high degree of resistance to the unfavorable conditions of its growth. It can withstand short periods of drought and spring frosts on the soil.
The hybrid aquilegia, bred by crossing various wild and cultivated varieties, has a greater attractiveness of the colors of the buds and the degree of leafiness of the bush. The aquilegia hybrid flower can have both simple and double forms of inflorescences. It has a longer flowering period and a refined aroma of its buds. The life span of one flower after blooming, unlike ordinary aquilegia, is not 10, but 18 – 20 days. Requires increased attention and special agrotechnical knowledge in the process of its cultivation. In particular, even a short-term decrease in the level of soil moisture at a depth below 5 cm should not be allowed. This causes a complete cessation of the development of flower buds and stops flowering. All developed buds fall off.
Low-growing varieties of aquilegia are often used in home culture to obtain a flowering plant that is used in the decor of the interiors of apartments and offices. They can also be used in the formation of the borders of garden paths, flower beds, landscaping along the terrace. Tall aquilegia varieties can be an attractive decor for a hedge, wall of a house or outbuilding. Medium-sized aquilegia varieties are excellent for the formation of flower beds as an additional crop with a temporary flowering period.
Pay attention when choosing a variety for the flowering period. Depending on the variety, aquilegia flowers can bloom both in the earliest spring months after the snow cover melts, and in late autumn. With the correct selection of varieties, continuous flowering can be ensured from early May to late September. Usually, the inflorescence forms at the top of the bush stem and rises above the green mass. It is formed by various inflorescences and resembles a panicle in its structure.
Common aquilegia (Aquilegia vulgaris)
The common aquilegia flower, a photo of which can be viewed below on the page, has a simple bud structure. The sophistication of the form boggles the imagination: it is a curved cup that depicts a semi-curved rim, and five beautiful petals. The petals tend to curl up in the form of small pouches, in which, in fact, the moisture formed from dew and precipitation is collected. In the middle of the calyx, there is a curved spur, which repeats the main color of the bud or is radically different from it. Likewise, the calyx and petals can be of the same color, or they can differ from each other by several shades.
Do not be alarmed if the variety of aquilegia you have chosen has no spur at all. This is not a mistake of nature or deception of the seed seller. This is a bizarre form of a plant, in which flowers of a simple form are completely devoid of this formation. Although other varieties of aquilegia can have spurs of stunning length and beauty
Hybrid aquilegia
The flowers of the hybrid aquilegia are mainly semi-double and double varieties. A more complete description is presented in the article on terry aquilegia. There you will also find many photos of this amazing flower.
For now, let’s give some general information. So, the hybrid aquilegia, the photo of which is shown below, has a particularly structure. She has not five petals, but such a number that can turn the bud into a kind of aster known to all. The spur is completely absent or slightly developed and is practically invisible due to the densely planted petals. In semi-double varieties, some thickening is sometimes seen in the center of the calyx. This is the undeveloped spur. The most common hybrid aquilegia is Nora Barlow. It is distinguished by the refinement of the double flower forms and the richness of their color.
Hybrid Aquilegia “McCana”
The variety of colors, shapes and heights of the bush provide various hybrids of this plant. We offer you such a variety as a hybrid aquilegia “McKana” (McKana Hybrids) to familiarize yourself with the main characteristics of the species. Most often these are plants with a developed flowering stem, used in cutting culture to form beautiful bouquets and flower displays. Aquilegia “MacKana” flowers are presented in various colors of a double flower. Blue and lilac shades, white, yellow, red and cherry are common. A distinctive feature is the absence of a drooping effect. Each bud has a long and graceful spur. The maximum plant height can reach 130 cm.
Aquilegia “Winky”
In the decorative culture, the aquilegia “Winky” is used not only to decorate the garden and cut flowers for bouquet compositions. The variety “Winky” (Aquilegia Winky Mixed) can be successfully used for landscaping and decorating the interiors of apartments and country houses in the form of a pot culture. Various colors are present. Flowers are collected in inflorescences on a thick, stable stem. Long flowering. The color of the buds is very different. It has a low compact bush, above which flowering shoots can rise by 20 – 25 cm.
Hybrid aquilegia “Biedermeier”
Another plant of this culture, amazing in its beauty and decorative properties, belongs to hybrid forms obtained in the course of long-term breeding work. This is a hybrid aquilegia “Biedermeier”, which, at the heart of its selection, has an ordinary wild-growing crop variety. Due to this, it has an amazing resistance to adverse environmental factors and does not require special care during the cultivation process. The aquilegia variety “Biedermeier” is distinguished by its variegated colors and low growth of the main bush. An adult plant rarely exceeds 50 cm in height and has long, strong peduncles with drooping buds of various colors. There is a two-tone color of a double flower. As a rule, red and yellow, white and blue, purple and blue shades are combined.
Ordinary aquilegia “Ruby Port”
Another common cultivar cultivated for perennials. Aquilegia ordinary Ruby Port is a graceful flower shape with three petals, which are exquisitely complemented by several spurs. They can be either one-color or combine different shades of color of sepals, petals and spur. On average, the height of a compact bush reaches 80 cm. It belongs to medium-sized varieties.
Aquilegia white
White aquilegia varieties come in several hybrid and simple forms. Plants are distinguished by an exquisite, pure white color without foreign inclusions. Such varieties as “Olympic” and “Alaska” are widespread. However, white flowers of aquilegia can be found among other hybrid forms of the plant.
