Cutting back Colombines

The aquilegias that flourished in my garden through the spring are now mostly spent, with most of the seed heads done now also. Advice online seems to be very much to cut back in spring and autumn. Should I just leave it for now even though the flowers have all gone and the fruits/seeds have mostly followed suit?

 

Hi @SimonZ I would cut down the heads to leave any basal leaves as a mostly tidy clump. Normally I cut them down before the seedheads form, because aquilegia seed everywhere!

 

Thanks, will do.

 

Isn't that one of the nice things about aquilegia? They do self-seed, but they're so pretty you can't really begrudge them a little space in the border.

 

All the flowers are obviously now long gone, but I am wondering how and when the plants will seed: on inspection, most of the seedheads seem to be empty so I'm wondering if the fruits have already fallen/been dispersed?
However, I still want to keep them in their current state because I actually like the look of them. They are interesting additions to a garden, would you not agree?

 

The seeds will already have blown around your garden. They scatter in a similar way to poppies.

Lots of pretty flowers next year!

 

They can be any colour.

 

I made a video of the seedheads