Germination of Aquilegia Seeds

time to come in and germinated they will be up in a short time

Here is a great data base site for seed sowing.

http://www.backyardgardener.com/tm.html

This is a clematis type columbine called 'Blue Barlow'. The Barlows are a lovely cultivar and seems to come back true from seed, though some are more semi-double than double.

Weezengreens

that's beautiful - nice color too.

I brought my first bunch in yesterday. I will check them everyday to make sure they are moist. I will have more to bring in at the end of the month.

I start mine in the basement, and except a few, they don't really need the special stratification. I have so many pots of aquilegia wintering over in pots under the snow, that I have no business starting any new ones, but I can't help myself. This one is called green apple. It is very similar, if not the same as a white Barlow, but claims to be green in the opening stages. I guess they know that green flowers are sought after.

Absolutely gorgeous!

I threw some Green Apples seed out last year and 1 germinated. I see that it is coming back, so I am anxious to see flowers. I put it, all by itself in the front, in the Heuchera bed. I am hoping with the other Aquilegias out in the back yard, that this one stays pure and doesn't cross pollinate. I know, tell that one to the bees! ☺

lol I have large green daisies and I dont like them didnt know since I purchased it in a 69 cent sale at the end of the season and it started to flower two weeks later, not what I thought I was lol

I think people are always looking for unusual new flowers to grow, but, if you think about it, a truly green flower is likely to get lost in the foliage from across the yard. This is a rose pink clematis type with single or semi-double blooms. The plant was grown from seeds I received in trade from a DGer from England. It's a lovely plant.

O WOWSER Weezingreens that's a beauty! Any idea of the name?

It is gorgeous. Love that color too!

very nice I grow many clematis
they are amazing vines

These are not clematis, but Aquilegia that are considered a clematis type. (but you probably already knew that!) They do hang from the plant like a clematis and the petals are much the same. Though I guess they could be considered single varieties of the types that are considered in the Barlow family, they just seem a bit different to me. I have no idea what the name of this one is. It was seed collected from her garden allotment. If it comes up and does well, I should have some seed this coming fall.

This is a lovely short spur type that has two shades of pink. The seeds came from New Zealand.... another DG trade from years back.

That's also a beauty.

I thought thats what it was since I have one that is probably the same but never heard it called that since I buy so many seeds I may have forgotten the name I have almost every columbine grown and known to man at this time lol I just love them I think I am just a little obsessed with them hahahhahahah

Weezie... is this one close to yours?... mine looks darker... might be in the family though

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/194906/

I started a new flat and they have not come up so out they go to get their little butts frozen outside for a few days
since there is five different kinds of bonnets and I dont want to loose them

one is an origani and the other a mckana which is taller and darker

This message was edited Oct 14, 2009 10:22 AM

Hi, Onewish. Mine is more of a shortspur, but yours reminds me of a rose version of the Rocky Mountain columbine. Whatever it is, it's a beauty!

Scicciarella, I grow lots and lots of aquilegia, as well. They like our cool, damp summers. I haven't started a lot of them this spring, because I have hundreds of plants in pots I need to sell already. Some are already three year plants, so they'll need bigger pots this year.

nice... I just winter sowed seeds from that one... lets see how it goes

Here's a pink and white McKana's Giant I've had in my south bed for about 15 years. It grows to be over four feet tall, and it blooms profusely.

pretty

very pretty. I'd love to see a few full bed pictures.

Anita - I was just thinking the same thing. Weeze - do you have pictures of a whole bed of them? Bet it is gorgeous!

Here is a picture of the same pink McKana in my south bed. I don't have big beds of aquilegia, as I am an avid seed collector, and I like to keep them separated out to avoid cross pollination. However, many of my close-ups are from isolated plants or the ones on the sales tables that are in pots. As a group, they don't make for a very pretty picture, but up close, they do.

love it!

Here's a Nora Barlow... the first of the Barlow's I grew before I purchased a package of mixed colors. Since then, I plant the individual colors, as it takes two to three years to know what color it will be.

actually I don't think there is one I don't like!

Weezie - I have to disagree. The picture of the many aquilegias is gorgeous. The colors are spectacular. I love the Nora Barlow too. I am trying Nora again - I didn't get her to germinate before. I had tried a packet of seeds with the Barlows and ended up with a Granny's Bonnet - Dorothy Rose type of plants - some pink and some white.

Gorgeous photos!

Mindy - wondering if you have seen anything yet on your sowing methods that you showed us above or is it too soon?

I have been growing them for 15 years havent found a single one I dont like I have pretty well every kind know I also collect the wild woodland kinds which are very small, also all of the barlows and mckanas and the orientals this winter I started again four full flats of them and they will bloom the first year if started in the fall and planted outside so the leaves fall of and regrow the first year they will bloom in june but it is a change to take because if the plants are to small they will die and not leaf out again

this red one is such a sweet heart just love it

That surely is a beauty! Since Aquilegia grow so well here, I've been trading seeds with people all over the world over the years, thanks to Dave's Garden. In the process, I've been privileged to share seeds, as well. From the dwarf flabellatas to the Giant McKanas, they are all beautiful, and most start easily from seed indoors. A few need a bit of winter sowing or stratification, but for the most part, I grow far more than I can sell or plant in beds.

Or local wild columbine is A. formosa, similar to A. canadensis, but the flowers have longer spurs and are more star-like. Here's a photo.

the wild ones I have here are also the red like yours but without the spurs
they are very simple and only 5 to 6 inches tall I call them the shrimps for lack of size
I dead head mine and keep them blooming till the end of july of the beginning of august
most people dont do that and wonder why they have such a short bloom season
I only allow the last blooms to go to seed

I would guess that yours are A. canadensis, but I don't know that for a fact. They are very similar to our A. formosa. I allow the A. formosa to grow in beds along the perimeter of my yard, but I discourage them from growing in my beds, as they hanky panky with my cultivars and I like collecting seeds from the domestics. This one is what I believe to be A. canadensis. It popped up alongside the A. formosa, but looks quite different.

yes those are it so cute

I was so sad last year when I had to sell my house and move from toronto to ottawa
that is why I am starting so many this year since it was not possible for me to take the plants the purchaser actually stated in the offer that nothing could be taken from the garden beds lol I still took some spring bulbs and stuff that was not visible when they came to the house but since we only had to weeks before the close and it was a government transfer it went way to fast for me.

so now I am trying to get some garden beds going at the new location
found a few things but obviously the old owner didnt like columbines and I found only the wild ones, but since I had grown them for so long I had many seeds of each kind that I am growing now but will not have the blooms till the fall or next spring some will bloom this summer since I started to grow them last fall but only had so much space

so as you can tell I am one very sad columbine lover lol since I will not see any blooms early this spring

Yes, that's sad, but just think of next year!

I noticed this morning the flats that I brought in are starting to sprout! You all taught me the secret. I will have more to bring in at the end of this month! Yay! Thank you.

Scicciarella - I agree with Weezie - think of next year. What is the red one that is facing up? Love that.

^_^

they are clementine red
I like them
what I did find on this property that I have never seem before is
one that looks just like clementine but in yellow so cute but cant
find any into on it starting to wonder if its a columbine at all will
have to look for it again this spring and take good pics and
post them to confirm they are columbines lol the leaf is right
and the flower looks right but in yellow lol

Weez - great photo - everything looks so healthy and fleshy :).

I'm at work so I don't have thier names. I mean to get on the computer every night but all those seeds
keep calling my name :).

The seeds I put in a bag with homemade paste didn't do anything despite the cold stratisification (sp). This weekend
I just put them in the garden to hopefully sow on thier own.

The 10 9x13 containers I am winter sowing is still outside. It's still a bit too cool yet gor germination.

I brought in 5 containers and they germinated within 7 days insdie the greenhouse. One of the varieties has varigated leaves. They are just too cute :).

The ones I did in baggies have been in the baggy for a week now post sprout. I keep forgetting to put them in their own pots but they are still doing well.

Will post pictures as soon as I can. My hubby got my hoop house up and running so I'm rotating out the ones that can handle the 60's that's in there and only keeping the seeds that need 70 to germinate (squash, tomoatoes ect.) You know when they tell you the greenhouse is never big enough - it's never big enough :).

I love the columbine with unusual leaves, as they keep green all summer here, and unusual foliage adds interest in the garden. The first variegated ones I grew were 'Woodside', a form of A. vulgaris, short-spurred and usually pale blue. The foliage is really the calling card, but some have lovely flowers of different colors, as well.

I bought these yesterday

http://davesgarden.com/community/journals/vbc/onewish1/74812/

Mindy - I'd love to see pictures!

Weezie - that is beautiful. I have a woodside mix that is sprouting right now - will they be varigated?

Onewish1 - I have the doubles in both a pink plant and a white plant. I love mine. The pink one is quite tall and the white one is kind of shortish.

thanks... can't wait