Aquilegia

This first Columbine I've written about before. It is 'Woodside Strain', so not a homogenous plant, but ones with mostly the same leaves and flowers that can be any of a range of pastels. It usually comes true from seed, though you might get a few with all green leaves and a fair number with yellow leaves. Actually it makes far more babies than one can ever use, but they weed out easily and because they are so pretty are easy to give away or trade.

This next one has yellow flowers and there are several different named ones like this so I'm not sure exactly which one this is. I do know that it is quite tall, probably 3 foot bloom scapes. It also makes a lot of babies, but since none have bloomed yet, I don't know if they will come true from seed.

This white one, don't know the name, does come true from seed, but doesn't make very many babies. It is a small plant, rarely over a foot tall. I have moved some of the babies to different locations with no problem. Columbines seem to be able to be moved most any time, though I probably wouldn't do it much later than now to give them a chance to settle in before frost.

'Ruby Port' is on of the non-spurred blossoms. It is a very dark wine red with smaller flowers and about 2 feet tall.

This is a native Columbine from near Lake Superior (if I remember correctly) that we bought from the folks at Oikos Tree Crops. If you're looking for native plants and things friendly to birds and critters, this is a good place to browse. This Columbine does come true from seed, but seems to be a bit overzealos in its seed production. We did have to emtpy a whole small bed of it this year because it was taking over. It is about 4 feet tall and lovely, but a little more enthusiastic than I might like in a civilized garden.

This was my first Columbine which I got from Glasshouse Works many years ago. It seeds sufficiently to give me plants to put other places without being too invasive.

This is one of its latest seedlings, a lovely grape purple. One of the neatest things about this one (or one of the bunch of them) was that a lot of them had black stems. Quite striking where they were growing next to one of the waterlily ponds.

End of the Columbines, but I hope you see the range of colors available in this easy to grow plant. I know there are probably hundreds more out there, all just as lovely as these.

Jane