Dwarf Aquilegia Winky Red and White Seeds - Columbine

Aquilegia 'Winky Red and White' belongs to the Winky Series, a collection of hybrid cultivars selected for their improved tolerance to mildew. From spring to early summer, it produces a profusion of attractive, upward-facing blooms with purplish red outer petals and a white corolla. Very hardy and easy to grow, this undemanding perennial is particularly compact - perfect for growing in pots or at the forefront of rock gardens and borders.

Aquilegia, commonly known as Columbine or Granny’s Bonnet, belongs to the Buttercup or Ranunculaceae family. 'Winky Red & White' is a dwarf cultivar selected from Aquilegia vulgaris (or clematiflora), a species that occurs naturally in open woodlands, clearings, meadows, rocky slopes and roadside banks of North America, Europe and temperate Asia. It forms compact, upright, bushy clumps that grow to a height of 35 cm in full bloom, for a width of about 30 cm. From May to August, charming simple, upward-facing flowers with short spurs emerge at the tip of sturdy, branched stems. The two-toned blooms have deep burgundy red outer petals and a white corolla. The deciduous light green leaves have a lacy, delicate, clover-like appearance. Aquilegias are short-lived perennials; flowering generally reaches its peak after 2 or 3 years of cultivation. Although they self-seed easily, they are not always true to type when different varieties of columbine are grown in close proximity.

Columbines have been popular ornamental garden plants since the Middle Ages. They will fit in just about anywhere, bringing a discreet lightness and fantasy to mixed borders and perennial beds; they are ideal for underplanting shrubs and trees, growing up slopes or decorating shady rock gardens. They are excellent cut flowers. In old-fashioned cottage style gardens, columbines combine well with perennials such as foxgloves, bellflowers, wood cranesbill, bleeding hearts or lady’s mantle.