First Aquilegias in flower...

[Georgie]

..this year.  Not the best of photos but you get the idea.   ;)

G x

[Georgie]

[saddad]

Ours have just started too...  ;D

[GREENWIZARD]

just leaves for me
nice

[Georgie]

...and with the Aquis come the greenfly - hopefully followed by the ladybirds.   ;D

G x

[lorna]

Just love them. Still have a wait for mine to flower.

[shirlton]

I have one of the spurred aquilegia in flower that I sowed last year

[hopalong]

...and with the Aquis come the greenfly - hopefully followed by the ladybirds.   ;D

G x

Not seen so many ladybirds so far this year Georgie. Wonder why?

Lovely Aquilegias.

[posie]

They're lovely Georgie.  Is there a knack to growing them.  I've tried 2 years on the trot now to grow them from seed, but not one has ever come up.  do you sow them direct, or coddle them in a greenhouse?

[Squash64]

They are beautiful Georgie. Do you have many different colours?

[Flighty]

Here's a couple of mine, the parent and an off-spring, taken this morning

[attachment=1]

[attachment=2]

[thifasmom]

mine started over the weekend as well but i have the basic bog standard type.

i like your white one flighty.

[Flighty]

Thifasmom thanks! All the others are shades of blue, mauve and pink except this one albino.

The parent was the only flower on my plot when I took it on nearly two years ago and it's now well over three feet high when it flowers.

[Georgie]

Not seen so many ladybirds so far this year Georgie. Wonder why?

Lovely Aquilegias.

Thanks Hopalong.  I've not seen any native ladybirds yet.  I hope they haven't been totally wiped out by the Harlequins.   :(

They are beautiful Georgie. Do you have many different colours?

Thanks Squash.  Quite a few, yes.  Those pictured are just the common Aquilegia vulgaris which come in lavender, deep pink and cream.  I also have 'Goldfinch' which is yellow, 'Clementine White', 'William Guinness' which is deep purple and white and some of the McKana hybrids which come in various colour ways.

They're lovely Georgie.  Is there a knack to growing them.  I've tried 2 years on the trot now to grow them from seed, but not one has ever come up.  do you sow them direct, or coddle them in a greenhouse?

Thanks Posie.  I think they come best from fresh seed, either self-seeded or, as I do them, in small pots in the unheated greenhouse.  The germination rate isn't great I have to admit. Happy to send you some fresh seed later in the year if you want to try again.   :)

Very nice, Flighty.   :)

G x

[cheerfulness]

I had no idea what a harlequin ladybird was until I googled it.
Didn't realise there were so many varieties of ladybird but happy to see that the handful I've seen in my garden this year are the 'normal' 7 spotted kind. 

I've printed out this indentification sheet from the link below so that I can go bug spotting again this summer and pretend I'm five again. Happy days!  ;D

http://www.harlequin-survey.org/downloads/Ladybird%20descriptions_Info%20pack_NEW_v.5.pdf

Oh and my aquilegias just coming into bud. Its a lovely red and yellow one that mum gave me a couple of years ago.  :)

[manicscousers]

lovely photos, georgie..I love aquilegia .
posie, my hsl ones came with about 6 ways of germinating..mine worked best by putting the seeds, in  a small tray of compost, in a plastic bag in the fridge for a couple of weeks, then on the windowsill, I got 75% germination with them.  :)
got a new one to try next year, long spurred, yellow

[Georgie]

Thanks Manics.   :)

Here are two more pics taken this evening.

G x



Aqui vulgaris



Aqui Clementine White