Aquilega vulgaris Barlow Mixture seeds - Columbine

Sowing Barlow Mixture Columbine Seeds allows you to easily grow this graceful and original perennial, renowned for its double, spurless flowers resembling ruffled stars, with hues ranging from powdery pink to deep blue. With its soft, bushy habit, it integrates perfectly into naturally inspired gardens or perennial borders. Whether in open ground or containers, it brings lightness and colour in spring and attracts pollinators. Care remains simple, though it's advisable to avoid overly heavy soils and excessively damp areas in winter to protect its roots. Sow in spring or autumn under cover.

The garden columbine or Aquilegia vulgaris 'Barlow Mixture' is a herbaceous perennial belonging to the Ranunculaceae family. This horticultural series groups several cultivars such as 'Nora Barlow', 'Black Barlow', and 'Blue Barlow'. The species, Aquilegia vulgaris, sometimes known as Columbine, Cornette, Aiglantine, Cinq-doigts, Galantine, or Gonneau, is native to Western, Central, and Southern Europe, where it grows naturally in meadows, forest edges, and rocky areas. The cultivars in the Barlow series are distinguished by their double, star-shaped, spurless flowers—a rare characteristic among columbines—offering a unique aesthetic and enhanced ornamental value. These plants have an upright, bushy habit, forming compact clumps. Growth is moderate. In open ground, they typically reach 60 cm in height and spread 30 to 50 cm wide. They do not produce suckers but self-seed readily.

In a garden seeking to blend natural grace with a subtle palette, Barlow Mixture Columbine stands out as an obvious choice. Its pastel-hued flowers bring a touch of lightness and romance, evoking English cottage gardens. Planted en masse at the foot of deciduous bushes or on woodland edges, it creates poetic scenes, especially when paired with contrasting foliage like that of Heuchera 'Palace Purple', Bleeding Hearts or Dicentra, or with Alchemilla mollis. These companions, with their complementary textures and colours, highlight the columbine's discreet elegance while ensuring staggered flowering and prolonged visual interest.

An interesting anecdote about this plant concerns the cultivar 'Nora Barlow', named in honour of Emma Nora Barlow (1885–1989), granddaughter of Charles Darwin. A botanist and geneticist, she contributed to popularising this variety by growing it in her garden and sharing its seeds with horticulturists, notably Alan Bloom, who marketed the variety under this name.