Wild columbine

Columbine, Aquilegia vulgaris or Granny's Bonnet, is a favourite cottage garden plant, but its wild ancestors are by no means common now. It was recorded on the nature reserve 40-50 years ago, but then wasn't seen for many years until we cleared an area of thick scrub on a south-facing chalk slope about 15 years ago. Suddenly it appeared and a few plants have flowered in most years since then. I much prefer this simple blue-purple wild plant to the gaudy double flowers that the garden centres now sell in their thousands.