Aquilegia 'Blue Barlow'

A rare offering of this popular and beguiling Aquilegia. The violet blue flowers mass on tall stems above the foliage for many weeks. As the plants establish they become more productive, and the long stems are great for picking – in fact they were actually bred for florists.

Aquilegias have sweet flowers and delightfully lacy, fern like foliage. They make a beautiful foil for the fading spring flowering bulbs - as their fresh foliage begins growing in early spring, when the bulbs are going into senescence.

Aquilegia are suitable for growing in a lightly shaded to morning sun position. You could plant them in borders, as massed plantings, in beds or in containers.

After the initial flowering has finished, you can cut the stems back to the basal foliage and add some fertiliser to encourage more blooms. You can leave the last flowers of the season to form seed heads for future generations of plants, keeping in mind seedlings are unlikely to flower true to type as Aquilegias hybridise easily.

Aquilegias really are a cottage garden essential with sweet flowers and delightful lacy foliage. It is hard to show how really amazing they are, you need to try them for yourself.