How to Grow Columbines

Believe it or not, these flower seeds aren’t too fussy when it comes to their soil. Columbines thrive in moist soil that is well-draining. They should be sown in a location with partial sunlight to ensure the optimal growth and health of your Aquilegias.

When to sow Aquilegia seeds in the UK

Your soil is all prepped, now you’re probably wondering when to plant Aquilegia seeds. When it comes to sowing these easy-to-grow flowers, you can either sow them indoors between January and May in plant containers or, if you’d rather, you can sow them outdoors somewhere between April and June.

How to grow Aquilegia from seed

We recommend sowing your seeds thinly in clean pots of fresh, moist seed compost and covering them with a little compost in containers inside your house. Water your Columbines well and stand the containers in a shady place and with any luck they should germinate in about four weeks! 

When your little seedlings have developed a few leaves, then will be time to transplant them into individual pots or trays around 5cm apart.

You should consider moving them into your flower bed or outdoor pots when they appear to be outgrowing their container. Make sure they’re spread out with around 38cm of space in an area that is only partially sunny - remember these are woodland plants which naturally tend to thrive in darker, shaded areas. Their preferences can depend on the specific species of Columbine, so just be sure to take a look at the packet before planting to find out what works best for them.

We’re pretty sure that we don’t need to tell you how much it pays to prevent slug damage and to protect the pots from cats and other creatures with garden fleece and netting. 

Keep your Columbine seedlings moist with watering and give them a liquid feed occasionally – we find that tomato food, which you may well be using in summer anyway, is ideal.

When it comes to deadheading, this isn’t a necessary step for Columbines. When dying, flower petals will naturally fall and also self-seed, allowing new plants to develop the following year. We weren’t lying when we said they were easy to grow! They do half of the process for you! If you’d rather have strict control over the population of Columbine flowers in your garden, however, deadhead when the flowers are dying.

What are you waiting for? Your growing journey starts right here at Mr Fothergill’s! Shop our fantastic range of Columbine seeds today and let us help get your aquilegia garden going.

If you have any further questions about how to sow Aquilegia seeds when to plant Columbine seeds, or have any curiosities about any of our other products, don’t hesitate to contact us or take a deeper dive into our gardening blog!