Columbine or Aquilegia
This little powerhouse comes in a dizzying array of colors ranging from pastel to bold, single or multicolored, with 70 cultivars in all! Columbine can grow anywhere from 6” to 3’ tall and flowers can be single or double. They can handle sun to part shade, although mine seem to thrive in shade too.
If you deadhead the flowers before they go to seed, you will be rewarded with more blooms which can extend the flowering season to as much as 6 weeks! If the spent flowers are left on the stem, pods will form that contain little black seeds – you can hear them rattling around when you shake the pod. Open the seed pods in an area that you would like to grow more columbine and you will be rewarded with plenty! In fact, if you have different varieties of columbine near one another the plants can cross-pollinate and create a whole new variety for you!
Some beautiful companions to this spring bloomer are hosta, ferns, brunnera, coral bells, poppies, and lupine. They bloom just in time for the arrival of hummingbirds and deer will leave them be, making columbine the perfect little spring flower.
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