Columbine, an easy and ornamental perennial

Dove-shaped blossoms in almost every colour, some trailing long, dainty spurs, rise above bunches of blue-green leaves. Columbine (Aquilegia) earns its place in flower beds, along edges and in bouquets, and it sows itself freely: give it sun with cool, well-drained soil, never chalky, and it returns unbidden.

Columbine at a glance

Name	Aquilegia
Family	Ranunculaceae
Type	perennial
Height	8 to 32 inches (20 to 80 cm)
Exposure	full sun, part sun
Soil	ordinary, well drained
Flowering	April to June

From sowing to blooming, care is very easy and the impact is very ornamental.

Planting, sowing columbine

First of all, you should know that “placing is everything” because columbine loves both sun and cool soil. Part sun may be important wherever the climate is warm and dry in summer.

Columbine flowers re-seed themselves spontaneously year after year.

Planting columbine

When purchased in nursery pots, columbine is planted in fall or in spring.

What matters is that it doesn’t freeze.

 

Sowing columbine

If you wish to sow, sow directly in the plot. This is possible during April, provided soil temperature rises above 55°F (12°C).

If ever the climate in your area doesn’t allow for this, prefer covered sowing and transplant to the ground 2 months later.

To speed germination up, keep your seeds in the bottom level of your refrigerator for 15 days and sow upon taking them out.

• These are short-lived plants, but they re-seed themselves abundantly.
• Let your columbine spread its seeds on its own, it will stud your days with beautiful surprises.
• Propagation through crown division in fall or at the beginning of spring also works, but this technique should be avoided because the roots are fragile and columbine doesn’t like being disturbed.

Four ways to start columbine, and when to use each

Columbine can be bought as a plant, sown, divided, or simply left to sow itself. Each route has its own timing and its own conditions.

Letting the plant seed itself is the least work and often the most rewarding.

Pruning and caring for columbine

Remove wilted flowers regularly in order to boost flower-bearing and avoid having the plant dispense energy into preparing too many seeds.

• Cutting wilted flowers off will help reduce self-sowing, which is useful when it starts growing invasive.

Cut leaves back at the end of the blooming. Especially if your columbine has contracted powdery mildew: cutting all the leaves out bares the space for new leaves and new flowers, too.

• You can cut the plant back several times a year without fearing for the plant.

Hundreds of columbine varieties

Columbine is a plant that naturalizes anywhere quite readily. The speed with which it bears flowers and goes to seed, as well as the fact that it can sometimes accomplish several cycles within a single season make this a plant that has mutated many times over centuries of cultivation.

There are flowers of almost every color, and although most retain a dove-like shape due to the five outer petals, many are truly surprising. Some develop long, dainty spurs like the Aquilegia longissima or Longspur columbine.

Shown just here is the ‘Nora Barlow’ (Aquilegia vulgaris ‘Nora Barlow’). This is a double-flowered columbine variety and petals are shaped to form blossoms similar to clematis, which gives the common name for this type of columbine: “clematis-flowered columbine”.

Eight widely grown columbines to choose from

Among the hundreds of columbines in cultivation, a handful turn up again and again in garden centres and seed catalogues. Here is how the most commonly sold ones differ in size, colour and flower shape.

All there is to know about columbine

Columbine, which is also sometimes called “Granny’s bonnet“, produces very cute flowers that will nicely contribute to the many magnificent bouquets you might imagine.

Most often, you’ll be placing them in a flower bed, but they can also be used along edges or on rocky ground.

Columbine develops a bunch-like bearing, with blue-green leaves, and although alpine varieties stay rather close to the ground, flower bed varieties can tower up to 3 feet (1 meter) tall.

Lastly, columbine tolerates acidic soil very well, and is a great pairing for all types of heather and heath plants.

Enemies and parasites that frequently attack columbine

Columbine is very vulnerable to powdery mildew and getting rid of it is often quite difficult. Best do everything you can to avoid contamination in the first place.

• Don’t water the foliage, especially in summer.
• Cut infected foliage off regularly.
• Here are our tips on how to fend powdery mildew off.

As for parasites, this plant is targeted by snails and slugs.

• Slugs and snails generally prefer tender tissue, so concentrate protection on seedlings and on the soft shoots pushing from established crowns in spring, since tougher mature foliage is usually less vulnerable.
• On columbine (Aquilegia), pale winding serpentine tunnels in the leaves are typically the work of columbine leafminer flies (Phytomyza species), though similar mines on other plants are made by different leaf-mining insects.
• Space plants so air can move freely through the clump, since crowded columbines trap damp air and powdery mildew takes hold faster.

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