Aquilegia William Guinness

Deep purple-black petals edged in pure white, nodding on tall airy stems above the usual ferny aquilegia foliage. It goes by Magpie as often as by its proper name, and the reason is obvious the moment it opens.

Black flowers are difficult in a garden. They read as a hole at any distance and they disappear entirely against dark soil or an evergreen hedge. What makes this one work is the white edging, which draws the outline and stops the flower vanishing. Put it where the light comes from behind or beside it, and give it pale companions; against white or cream it is one of the most striking things you can grow from a packet.

The name commemorates a William Guinness, and there is rather more myth than fact about who he actually was. Some accounts say a nineteenth-century Irish gardener, others a member of the brewing family. Either way it has been a fixture of British cottage gardens for well over a century. Flowering is May into June and no longer, the foliage tires by late July, and self-sown seedlings will be crosses rather than copies.