Aquilegia ecalcarata ("Furin'odamaki")

Japanese name: フウリンオダマキ （風鈴苧環）
Scientific name: Aquilegia ecalcarata

[Overview]
A perennial 20–80 cm tall, often branching in the upper part.
There are two kinds of leaves, basal leaves and stem leaves; the basal leaves are twice ternately compound, with cut leaflets whose margins have large, rounded teeth.
The basal leaves have long petioles.
The leaves on the stem are alternate, 1–3 in number, and usually 3-lobed.
2–6 flowers bloom downward in a cyme-like arrangement at the stem tip.
The flowers are about 1.5–3 cm across, with 5 spreading purple petal-like sepals; the petals are also purple and gather in a tube at the center.
The petals have no spurs.
The fruit is a capsule.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed or by division.
For division, separate the rhizome by hand where it has naturally split.
It prefers a sunny, well-drained site.
It may weaken in direct midsummer sun, so in summer move potted plants to bright, airy shade, and plant it in the ground where deciduous trees will cast shade.
For potted plants, water thoroughly when the soil surface dries; for plants in the ground, rainfall is sufficient unless sunny weather continues and the soil becomes badly dry.
If base fertilizer is applied, little further fertilizer is needed, but for potted plants liquid fertilizer may be given once every 2 weeks during flowering.
Pests and diseases include soft rot, powdery mildew, aphids, spider mites, cutworms and slugs.

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