Columbine

Flowering in early summer, aquilegias fill the seasonal gap between the last of the spring bulbs and the main flush of summer perennials. 'Nora Barlow' is one of the more interesting varieties, producing almost spherical heads made from lots of small pink, and white petals. Self-sown aquilegias look charming naturalised amongst shrubs and roses however the plants interbreed freely and seedlings are rarely much like the parents. Deadhead by cutting flowered stems off close to ground level shortly after flowering, to prevent self-seeding, if you want to keep named strains true.