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Can someone identify this plant?

ren.bren.b Posts: 164
in Plants
It's the plant where the bee is in the flower - is it a Penstemon or something else?  They are very tall stalks and come back every year but that raised bed is being taken over by a berserk hydrangea behind (advice on when best to trim that back would be appreciated - novice gardener so feel free to talk to me as you would a child ... :D

I took off the spent flowers as they were dropping but am never sure how far down the stalk I need to cut - is it JUST the flower head?


Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited July 2021
    It’s an aquilegia aka Columbine or Granny’s Bonnets. A lovely plant. They self seed around a lot and you get various crosses of colours … many of the self seeded ones turn out to GW just a plummy colour but I wait until they’ve flowered before I pull any up as sometimes you get a really pretty one like yours. 

    If I deadhead I cut the stem behind the individual  flower back to where it joins the rest of the plant 

    I don’t deadhead the prettiest ones so that they can spread their seeds around and hopefully they’ll produce some pretty offspring.

    Hope that helps. 😊 

    @Fairygirl grows hydrangea more than I do … I’ve given her a nudge so hopefully she’ll see this and pop in. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • ren.bren.b Posts: 164
    Aahhh that was my second guess but couldn't find any images that looked exactly like mine, thanks so much for that info ... I was delighted when I noticed the bee in the photo ... :)<3
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Aquilegia come in several different flower forms, so it can be confusing. 


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • ren.bren.b Posts: 164
    Thankyou Dovefromabove - will bookmark those links and have a good read. xxx
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    You would do better either digging up your Aquilegia and moving it or save seeds,  your Hydrangea will grow, as Hydrangeas do, won’t matter how much you cut it back it will be the same in a couple of months.
    The time to do it is April for me, some do it in March but it will grow big again by the end of that summer.
    You can either take some of the tall branches out so you don’t lose all the flowers or take the bull by the horns and cut the lot back, which is what I do,  no flowers in that year but beautiful the following one. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • ren.bren.b Posts: 164
    Thanks Lyn, I'm really nervous about digging anything up (never done it before) and haven't got a clue how to get seeds from them but I agree - they need moving away from that hydrangea.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Sorry @Dovefromabove - I don't use notifications so didn't know you'd tagged me.  :) I'd agree with @Lyn re moving them and letting the hydrangea have more room. There's a lot of other planting there too so you may need to look at that  in future.  :)
    Follow @Lyn's advice re pruning too.
    Aquilegias are easy to collect seeds from, and for moving, and they'll certainly seed around.
    To collect seeds - wait until the flowers finish, and the seed head forms. It needs to be dark brown and opening up, so that the seeds are viable. If you gently shake the seed pod, the seeds should be loose and may drop out anyway, so hold your hand underneath. Just collect them in a paper bag or an envelope, and either scatter where you want them, or save [somewhere cool and dry] for sowing at another time. To dig it up - easier to cut back first so that you can see it well, make sure it's well watered, leave until that soaks in, then dig round it. The root systems aren't huge, so if you just dig roughly where the spread of the foliage is, that will be plenty. Dig a hole somewhere else and plant. Water in. Job done  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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