Garden Stars - Graceful Aquilegia

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Aquilegia is one of the most unpretentious ornamental plants that perfectly fit into the landscape design of any personal plot and decorate even the most ordinary flower beds. And, despite its seeming simplicity, aquilegia has an incredible and refined charm that catches the eye at first glance. But if you look closely, the shape and structure of this flower culture is truly unique

The traditional, or rather, the historical name of this plant is the catchment, and it comes from the ability of the flower to collect and store rainwater. Sometimes the culture is called much more romantic - the elven shoe. It turns out that aquilegia was first grown in the 13th century in the gardens located at the monasteries. For several centuries, the plant remained a traditional culture in English gardens. Currently, the catchment is gaining its former popularity, breeders surprise flower growers with new varieties and hybrid forms with original flower colors.

Application in garden design

All varieties of aquilegia are good in their own way, for example, undersized compact forms look great in rockeries and rock gardens. Alpine aquilegia will harmoniously fit into rocky gardens, especially in combination with saxifrage and gentian. Indispensable for the catchment area and sunny slopes.

Tall and medium-sized varieties are suitable for creating flower beds, mixed plantings and decorating coastal areas of artificial reservoirs. And most importantly, the plant feels great in the shade, which allows you to grow it without any problems under the crowns of majestic oaks and various ornamental shrubs.

Aquilegia is not picky about neighbors either; it looks good in compositions with lupines, irises, bells, poppies, incense, swimsuits, ornamental cereals, hosts, astilbe, anemones and even ferns. But the beauty of the catchments grown in the background is lost, so it is best to plant the crop in the front row. By the way, recently aquilegia has also been used to create summer bouquets.

Growing conditions

As mentioned above, aquilegia are not whimsical, they develop well and bloom profusely, both in shady and sunny areas. Soils for growing plants are preferable loose, moderately moist, with a rich mineral composition. Some forms of catchments also accept rocky areas.

Reproduction and planting

Aquilegia is propagated by seeds and cuttings. Sowing seeds is carried out in early spring or autumn, but under cover in the form of a thick layer of peat, sawdust or fallen leaves. Among florists, the most common seedling method. Seeds are sown in special seedling containers in mid-March, and transplanted into open ground after the threat of frost has passed, as a rule, this is the end of May - beginning of June. The catchments bloom in the second year after planting.

When sowing in autumn, the seeds of aquilegia are distributed over the soil surface, sprinkled with a small layer of fertile soil and watered abundantly by rain, otherwise from a watering can. The site for the culture is prepared two to three weeks before the intended sowing, the soil is dug to a depth of 20-25 cm, fed with rotted humus and liquid mineral fertilizers. Seedlings of the catchment appear in early spring, they are thinned out, leaving a distance between plants of 5-7 cm (depending on the variety).

The division of the bushes is carried out for 4-5 years of life, but due to the fact that the culture has some peculiarities in the structure of the root system, such a procedure can be performed only by experienced growers, it is simply not subject to beginners. By the way, aquilegia often reproduces by self-seeding.

Care

In general, it is not difficult to take care of aquilegia. She needs systematic watering, weeding, loosening of the near-stem zone and, of course, top dressing. Having a well-developed root system, the catchment relatively easily tolerates prolonged drought, independently extracting moisture from the deep layers of the soil. Therefore, watering plants can be done rarely, but abundantly.

Every spring, it is advisable to add fertile soil fertilized with mineral fertilizers under the plants. To extend the flowering time, faded inflorescences need to be removed from aquilegia, but before the time the seed pod is formed. It is recommended to cover the plants for the winter, especially in the northern regions.

Often, aquilegia are affected by various diseases and pests. The most common disease of the culture is gray rot, it manifests itself in the form of gray mold on the lower part of the stem and leaves. To date, there are no drugs that can fight the disease, so the only way to prevent damage to other specimens is to remove the plants from the root.

Among the dangerous pests, a spider mite can be noted, it envelops the underside of the leaves with a cobweb, as a result of which the leaves turn yellow, dry out and fall off. To combat the pest, the most effective treatment of aquilegia with garlic infusion or preparations "Actellik" or "Karbofos".