What do you do with your Aquilegia (spelling?)

harmony

Hi, I was just wondering what do you guys do with your Aquilegia.
I have been deadheading some of mine (I do usually find deadheading very soothing) but I am slowly loosing the will to live lol. I do like the look of the seedheads but they are very good at self seeding in my garden and they have grown very tall this year. So what do you do with yours..

purplerallim

I take the heads off the pinks, and leave the rest to seed.😁

Buttercupdays

I let mine do their own thing in a marvelous miscellany. I have traditional granny's bonnets, Barlow type, starry white ones and some with larger single cups, in a variety of colours. One of the Bonnet ones is such a dark purple it is virtually black and a bee must have crossed it with a starry white Barlow one because this year there is a new blue and white variegated hedgehog growing near it I love them all and have somehow mostly avoided the muddy pinlks, but have some very pretty pale pink and white ones as well as claret reds.

Goldfinches like the seeds, they ate all mine last year.

Fairygirl

I deadhead usually. I don't like them crossing with other varieties because I don't want to end up with loads of wishy washy pastel colours. So far, the William Guinness ones that have seeded have all been true though.
In fairness, not that many people grow them round me.

JennyJ

I usually leave a few to seed (the colours that I like best) and cut the rest right down to the ground when the flowers have dropped but before the pods ripen. And any that have popped up where I don't really want them get pulled out when the flowers are over. And the muddy pinks get pulled as soon as I notice them. I have a nice pure white and one that's white tinged with pale blue this year which I'm hoping will come reasonably true, as well as an almost-black purple, and lots of OK blues. All single ones, which I prefer to the fluffy doubles.

bertrand-mabel

I look at the ones that are more out of the usual and take the seeds for later sowing.

Some fabulous white ones  are kept in one area and blues in another.

Otherwise the pinks are cut back after seeding after the insects have had a go.

B3

I cut mine to the ankles unless it's a particularly nice one or inaccessible. But then, all mine are self -seeded so you never know what you'll get. If one has the mildew disease, I bin it. I'm waiting for a nice white one . Just blues and purples  and pinks some blooms hanging like bells and some sticky up ones this year. Who knows what I'll get next year!

Bee witched

I don't ever deadhead ..... they are easy enough to weed out if there are too many.

I have a couple which I am actively trying to grow more of .... Aquilegia 'Little Lanterns', which is a lovely little thing, and an Aquilegia Long Spurred hybrid which has particularly nice colours.

Bee x

Ilikeplants

I still have some seeds collected from last year - think I will scatter these soon and then I keep the seeds of new ones that I like. Only noticed nice purple blue one that I’ll take seeds from. 

Gearóid

I dig out the muddy pink ones and leaves the others to cross pollinate.