Is this a weed?

[gardeningnovice5]

I found this growing behind a bunch of weeds earlier. Does anyone know what it is?

Looks like an Aquilegia seedling.

Agreed, looks like aquilegia. They have lovely flowers and self seed happily. One to keep.

Nooo it’s aquilegia .. grows tall with pretty flowers… self seeds.. random colours. I love them.

I think aquilegia too. Mine don’t seem to have come up this year, hopefully they’re under some weeds too.

I think it is an aquilegia.They are lovely delicate flowers about 2ft-3ft tall and will self seed. They don't like to be moved once they start to grow.

I really don’t like these bastards. Go absolutely everywhere!

Oh, how exciting, thanks! The flowers already seem dead due to being covered by alkanet, which has now been removed. Is there any chance it could flower again this year or am I too late?

Yes it will flower this year.

Keep it watered.

Just a small bit of advice, for years I thought that aquilegia was an annual and merrily pulled them out in the autumn. Its a perennial, leave it alone, it will die back and come again even bigger and better next year

Here’s the slightly dead looking flower stem…

I’m annoyed I took so long to remove the alkanet in front of it now.

It had no flower stems last year, so this one (even if it does look half dead) is an improvement on 2023…

I’d be very happy for a plant like this to spread to be honest - it beats the weeds any day.

Aquilegia is lovely. I had some that pollinated to pale yellow and a deep deep purple. I tried to save the seeds but they never came up sadly. I just get the usual paleish purple ones now, but maybe they too will change over time

That might be its colour- they come in pale greens and lemons, yellows, whites, shades of pink, reds, blues, purples, peaches. They do come back but I am never sure if it if from self-seeding or if they are perennials.

It’s a perennial, and doesn’t flower until early summer.

Perennials, but readily self seeding

That’s not dead. Those are the white flowers just opening. Let it seed, you may get different colours among the seedlings

Also know as Granny Bonnets