Granny's bonnet/Columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris)

Type: spring and summer perennial
Height: 80-120cm
Placement: semi-shade to full sun
Quantity: Min. 200 seeds
Germination rate: 90%
Plant spacing: 25x25cm
Colour: Mixed colours
Sowing: All year round, but best suited for cold sowing in winter. Topsoil or 0.5cm deep
Flowering: May-June. Will probably not flower until second year.


Columbine is a beautiful and elegant flower that adds colour and life to your garden, plus it's easy to grow as it requires very little attention and care and will reward you with flowers year after year, even if you give it no special attention. It comes in many different colours and can grow up to 120 cm tall with lots of flowers on each plant. It flowers over a long period from late spring until mid-summer. When the flowers fade, the beautiful and familiar seed heads emerge, which can be used in Christmas decorations and bouquets. The flowers themselves are also very beautiful and long-lasting in bouquets.

It has characteristic low-set, light green, divided leaves and the tall flowers are almost bell-shaped with a ring of outer petals and come in many different colour combinations. The older the plant, the more flowers it can produce. The flowers are an important source of nectar for honeybees and other pollinators in spring when they find little other food. Columbine is an easy plant to grow and can even thrive in shady, dry places.

If the flowers that have died are cut off, there is a good chance of a new flowering within the same season.