Columbine, Granny’s Bonnet, Doves-round-a-dish or Aquilegia; whichever you wish to call it, this flower, which will pop up in the garden any day now, is delicate in appearance but robust in its habit of sowing itself around the place. Aquilegia vulgaris is usually blue – in the US it is called the American bluebell – but many purple, pink, mauve, white and even yellow varieties have been cultivated. The leaves are distinctive, and I am always careful not to weed them out as they make such a pretty, and free, addition to the garden. Vita Sackville-West advised sowing them between paving stones; mine have happily done that for themselves. One of my favourite cultivars is the pink and white
‘Nora Barlow’, which was named after
Charles Darwin’s granddaughter. Aquilegia comes from the Latin for ‘eagle’, while columbine means ‘dove’, both hinting at the bird-like beauty of this perennial, which is well-suited to a cottage garden or as part of more informal planting. It doesn’t mind dappled shade but does like a nice rich soil.
In the vegetable garden, this is a good time of year to start thinking about planting a ‘Three Sisters’ bed. This is a Native American system of growing beans, corn and squash together in a way which is mutually beneficial. Iroquois women would form mounds of soil and into each one plant a corn seed. Later they would plant a bean seed next to it. Finally, when both had germinated and were growing, they would plant a squash seed. The bean fixes nitrogen into the earth which feeds itself and the other two plants, the corn provides a support for the bean to grow up and the squash benefits from the shade provided by the other two. I tried this last year in a 1m by 1m raised bed, proving it can be done in a small space, using sweetcorn, purple French beans and Hallowe’en pumpkins. All I had to do was water well in the dry summer we had, and I was rewarded with a small, but delicious harvest.
This month sees the return of the Garden Show at Firle Place. A wonderful opportunity to visit a wide array of stalls to buy new plants and ornaments for your garden. It is also a chance to find your way into the secret sanctuary that is the Firle Place Herb Garden, an 18th century walled garden, which is being restored by Lady Gage, who has a particular interest in the correlation between colour and the medicinal use of herbs. I visited last year and found a peaceful, quiet space, which is not overly manicured, but lovely in its abundance, with herbs generously spilling out over the grassy pathways. I came away with a Melissa, or lemon balm, which lets off a heady tang when you rub the leaves between your fingers and can be used to make a soothing salve.
