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| I saw what appears to be Giant McKana Columbine bulbs for sale and got a few. Now I am wondering where to plant it. My experience with Columbine has not been good. I know they are short lived, but none have returned so I wondered if they were planted in the right place (They were planted under an ash tree. Indian pink grew well there, but apparently not columbine).
One issue is that when I look up Dave's Garden, it indicated that the soil should be 6.5 or lower. The soil in my area is 7.0. Will this even work? Thanks. Paul |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Sun, Mar 11, 12 at 10:39
| hey paul ... i am not aware of columbine having bulbs ... at best you saw roots ... frankly .. my generic columbine.. are no better than a biennial ... but seed enough.. to come back all the time ... they are the state flower of CO .. and as such.. i think of it this way .. they grow in the mountains ... and elevation usually means cool nights .. in full sun.. probably with very high drainage.. and might not prefer a damp soil ... here in adrian mi.. i have pure sand.. and they grow in shade ... with little or no water so from those 2 equations.. i would suspect soil/drainage ... not sun ... though the foo foo flowers are spectacular.. IMHO.. its a plant you plan on buying every year ... so you always have some blooming .... and if the cost is too much.. walk on buy ... ken ps: the foo foo ones will probably not come true from seed.. and you will probably end up with the more common ones i have ... a regression of the genetics in the F1 foo foo's ... |
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- Posted by mad_gallica Z5 Eastern NY (My Page) on Sun, Mar 11, 12 at 10:46
| No, McKanas are not particularly foo-foo plants, and do manage to come reasonably well from seed. It's a mix, so both what comes out of the packet and what comes out of the plant are a crap shoot. I've gotten some very nice color combinations, but also some pretty bland ones. Also, while short lived, they aren't necessarily biennials. They aren't really shade plants, and like a fair amount of water. They do not like being transplanted, so self sown ones often do much better than purchased/planted ones. Soil pH shouldn't be an issue |
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- Posted by echinaceamaniac 7 (My Page) on Sun, Mar 11, 12 at 11:05
| Anyone who likes these plants needs to start winter sowing. They will have all of them they want. I saved seeds from mine and stored them in the freezer in a small container. I winter sowed them in December. I've never seen germination that great from them before. They do ok in full sun or part shade here. Their bloom period is very short though. |
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| Columbine does not have bulbs - perhaps you mean Liatris? This Spring I'm waiting on 2 or 3 dozen Columbine plants planted in several different beds to bloom. They are a mix of Aquilegia caerulea, A. canadensis, Origami mix, and also a bunch of McKana Giants. These were all started from seed and most will be blooming for the first time this year! Although some of the A. canadensis is 4 or 5 years old. I love a big show of blooms and growing them from seed is the most economical way to get it. Also I start them every Spring for the following year's blooms. I do that with Digitalis purpurea and Dianthus barbatus too. |
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| I dig a number of them up each year. Actually, the tap root on some of them is so thick, that it can look like a parsley or something. While the majority of them grow as biennials with me, some come back for 3rd year. In the link below some varieties are marked as 'long-lived' or even 'very long-lived'. I wonder what it means in practice. I do not recall I have ever had one I would call 'very long-lived' |
Here is a link that might be useful: long-lived Columbines??
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