Cultivating aquilegia with seeds: two ways

Tell me how to grow aquilegia from seeds? "Borrowed" from a neighbor several pods of white and purple aquilegia, it was very beautiful, it bloomed in the summer. Is it possible to sow seeds in the spring immediately on a bed or better to grow seedlings?

Unlike most garden plants, which prefer to multiply by division or cuttings, aquilegia is better to grow by seed method. Despite the fact that this plant has a rather powerful root system (in adults, the roots can reach up to 70 cm in diameter), it does not tolerate transplantation. In an effort to get a new flower, you can ruin the existing one.

Cultivation of aquilegia from seeds can be done in two ways:

• sowing them immediately into the open ground;
• growing first seedlings.

Features of sowing seeds on a bed

Seed aquilegia in the open ground already in mid-April. To do this, make shallow holes or a long bed and spread the seeds, observing a distance of 25 cm between them. Sprinkle a thin layer of earth and cover the crops with film until the sprouts appear. Then the shelter is removed and, if necessary, the seedlings are planted after forming 2-3 leaflets.

To improve the germination of seeds, they are pre-stratified. In addition, the hard shell of the seeds can be scratched with sandpaper to facilitate sprouting.

The advantage of this method is that the seeds can be sown and under winter. Aquilegia is quite cold and early shoots well tolerate a spring unstable temperature, but immediately after the autumn sowing on the patch it is recommended to make a shelter. So the seeds do not blow out the wind.

When to sow seeds on seedlings?

The cultivation of seedlings starts a month earlier, in March. The soil should be harvested from autumn, mixed in equal parts:

• deciduous land;
• sand;
• turf.

Seedlings will require deep containers - the roots of aquilegia, although weak, but long. In the pots, they do not have enough room for development, and the seedlings will be frail.

Seeds are kept in a solution of the growth stimulant and laid on the surface in a container with nutrient soil. On top, lightly sprinkled with earth. Before the emergence of sprouts, the containers are covered with a film to create greenhouse conditions.

Strong and healthy sprouts aquilegia grows under the condition of good lighting and a low temperature in the room (about 17 degrees Celsius). In separate glasses it is dived when it grows up, and on the bed is planted near the end of May.

Seeding of the seed of aquilegia on seedlings - video