Aquilegia formosa

[ronm]

I have been sent a good quantity of Aquilegia formosa, from California.

http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?where-genre=Plant&where-taxon=Aquilegia%20formosa

I haven't grown these before. Please does anyone have any tips on germination and / or growing on? Thanks. 

[Maggi Young]

Rick R. has grown this plant from seed  if I remember correctly.... worth asking him, Ron

[ronm]

Thanks Maggi, I will. I see Rick drops in from time to time, so will see what he has to say. 

There appear to be some similar looking ( apparently Sphinx moth pollinated ?? ...... I think more like hummingbird pollinated species!! ), species, but from what I can glean this one is of the most amazing crimson colour !!
Looking forward to seeing at least one (!) plant flowering whenever!!

[ronm]

In the meantime Rick did post this on the excellent NARGS Forum, 

http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=24.msg2402#msg2402

[Gene Mirro]

Give them a few weeks of warmth (15 - 20C), then a few months of cold (5C).  They should pop up like weeds in the Spring. 

[ronm]

Thank you Gene.

[Diane Whitehead]

 They grow along streams here.

I love them but can't grow them as my garden is too dry.

[Gene Mirro]

If they like your garden, and if you let the seeds disperse, they will become a weed within two or three years.  And they are nearly impossible to kill.  So I recommend cutting off the spent flowers before the seed is dispersed.

[Rick R.]

Wow!  You have a good memory, Maggi!  I feel kinda honored. 

I have germinated Aquilegia formosa in pots twice, from seed wild collected near Cordova, Alaska in 2004.  This is very near the coast, and I suspect it's about USDA zone 5-6 there.  Seed was dry stored (60-65F [15-18C]) until planting.
1) Planted 19 Feb 2006.  Placed outside.  Germination began 23 April.
2) Planted 23 March 2007.  Placed outside. Germination began 5 May.

Dr. Deno has some interesting results.
My compilation of his abbreviations is in this word document:
          Deno Abbreviations.doc (24.5 kB - downloaded 125 times.)

Dr. Deno writes:
A. formosa germ. 40-70(52% in 2-6 w) and none in 70-40-70. The seed was
received in January and had been in effect DS 6 m at 70. A sample placed outdoors
when received germ. 38% in late April and an additional 50% the following October
and November. The seed was given an additional 6 m of DS at 70 and sown outdoors
in January. This germ. 57% the following October and November indicating that
oscillating temperatures promoted germination.

A worker of his also had these results in later testing (KR is the worker's initials):
A. formosa had germ. 40-70D(52% in 2-6 w) (KR). KR now finds seeds germ.
70 GA-3(3110 in 3rd w) and 700(1/10 in 3rd w). If 5ppm.of zeatin cytôkinin is added to
the 70 GA-3 treatment the germination increases to 6/10 in 3rd w. This result is
important because it is one of the few examples of a positive effect of cytokinins and
because it confirms the general GA-3 requirement in Aquilegia.

[ronm]

Thanks for the tips Gene and Rick.

[Gene Mirro]

In nature, the seed disperses in mid- to late Summer, when the soil is pretty warm and dry.  A few weeks later, the Fall rains come, and the seeds will be wet until the next Spring, when they germinate.  So I don't understand Deno's finding that an initial 70F is fatal.  Maybe it's because in nature the seed is dry and 70F, and in the germination test, the seed is wet and 70F.  I let them self-sow in my greenhouse a couple of years ago, and the initial high temperatures didn't hurt them a bit, even though they were getting wet every time I watered. 

Also, keep in mind that A. formosa grows over a vast range in the US west.  I'll bet that the germination behavior will vary a lot depending on where the seed was harvested.

In any case, A. formosa has a reputation of being an unpredictable germinator.  But one thing for sure, if they are going to germinate at all, they will germinate as the soil warms up in Spring.  Also, it is amazing how much shade they can tolerate. 

[ronm]

Thanks Gene.

I intend to sow at the end of this month.  I'm hoping I can sow together in one pot and then prick out the seedlings when large enough to handle. Do you think they will be OK going through this process, or should I sow 'in situ'?

[Rick R.]

Ron, Transplanting seedlings hasn't been a problem for me.

Dr. Deno writes:
A. formosa germ. 40-70(52% in 2-6 w) and none in 70-40-70.

Gene, his none in 70-40-70 finding does seem perplexing.  But when you consider that he had very significant germination in Oct-Nov (separate trial) at the end of an outdoor warm treatment, perhaps seed had stealthily begun germination process in the first 70 treatment, but too late, and subsequently died during the ensuing 40 treatment.  I assume his 70-40-70 treatment result was minus the seeds that germinated in the first 70 treatment.  If this is the case, then the conclusion is that (at least for this particular seed batch) seed germinates in the first warm moist 3 month treatment only.  Still a hard thing to swallow, given the normal natural diversity in germination for most seed species.

[Gene Mirro]

Thanks Gene.

I intend to sow at the end of this month.  I'm hoping I can sow together in one pot and then prick out the seedlings when large enough to handle. Do you think they will be OK going through this process, or should I sow 'in situ'?

They are very easy to transplant.  Just don't let the roots dry out.

[Equisetum]

I have been sent a good quantity of Aquilegia formosa, from California...

I haven't grown these before. Please does anyone have any tips on germination and / or growing on? Thanks. 

It's fairly common for seeds of some wild plants to EITHER germinate very soon after dropping OR go into dormancy which in nature sees the seed through the winter (one or more sometimes!) until the soil temperatures have risen for a while. The mechanism is now thought to be that (in a live soil such as a good potting soil or considerately treated outdoor soil) the soil fungi produce a certain amount of giberellic acid, which breaks down the seed coat's anti-sprouting substances.

That may explain some of the varying observations in replies to your question!

That said, I was the lucky recipient of some seeds of A. formosa from Oregon some years ago. I guess from Oregon -- the tiny packet was attached to a postcard my son brought home from a camping trip to Oregon and who knows where the seed was really grown or collected. The postcard with its seeds hung around for a few years before I thought well, what the heck, I might be able to germinate some, sprinkled the seeds on top of one of my big pots that didn't have much in it, patted and sprinkled them in and waited. Next spring there was a thick carpet of tiny seedlings (as always happens when I decide there's not much hope of germination and apply a carpet of seeds to any medium  ), which after thinning and some transplanting grew into pretty fog-blue-leaved plants. I don't even remember if they bloomed that year or the next. I saved seed and eventually had quite a number of extra plants, which I planted out in various places as well as saving one or two plants in the original pots, for safety.

When I showed my son the flowers he said, oh that's the one that grows along the sides of the trails in Oregon.

I think that once established the plants are quite drouth-resistant, as the trails to my son's fishing sites are dry and here in the California Central Valley it's dry from April through October most years.

I also think that it was a very good suggestion that there are probably a great spectrum of ecotypes adapted to various (though somewhat similar) microclimates. A growout of seeds collected through the range would surely show it (never happen, alas...).

I live in one of the few counties where there are no reports of A. Formosa growing wild but the places where I planted the seedlings were among drip emitters and got varying amounts of summer moisture. The ones that self-seeded successfully and lived longest were in the shade among the raspberries, which also like a bit of shade here. The seedlings appeared in what here is late spring -- mid-April maybe. I've seen what are probably the species in friends' gardens and gardens I pass by and they seem to generally be in semi-shade also. Probably our semi-shade equals Scotland full sun!

Last year, the raspberry patch was destroyed when a new septic tank line was put in, and all my view-lightening ornamentals with it. But... two seedlings came up in one of the pots a few weeks ago, maybe April 1? -- quite miraculously as I'd topped up the soil with some from another pot that was disintegrating. Evidently some seeds had been buried too deeply to succeed in getting a shoot into the air but had survived. I don't know quite what lesson you can take from this, possibly "never give up" if you don't see shoots. Perhaps I'll even see some revived columbines in the newly redone raspberry patch.

Hope this helps, or at least gives you hope for seeing this columbine in your garden. One thing, A. formosa doesn't seem to be susceptible to soil-surface rot as so many of our dry-summer west coast wildlings are. Or at least my survivors aren't. I keep the raspberry patch pretty damp through the summer.