My mother has loads of them naturalized throughout a rock bed. 2 years ago she finally added 6 different varieties because 100% of the bed was plain purple. I'm hoping when i visit the newer variety seedlings will flower this year. Spring-mid summer they are gorgeous.

We've been going steady now for many years :-)

Yeah, they do reseed with great enthusiasm don't they? I still like them though, since they are easy to get rid of. Only thing I don't like is how they cross breed/dehybridize so much- there is no keeping with specific colors or original hybrids after a few years growing them. But such is life. I've given up "specific" kinds and just let them do as they please. They are more filler plants than specimen plants anyhow (at least imo)...
CMK

We've been going steady now for many years :-)

Yeah, they do reseed with great enthusiasm don't they? I still like them though, since they are easy to get rid of. Only thing I don't like is how they cross breed/dehybridize so much- there is no keeping with specific colors or original hybrids after a few years growing them. But such is life. I've given up "specific" kinds and just let them do as they please. They are more filler plants than specimen plants anyhow (at least imo)...
CMK

They are constantly dumping me. I try to make them happy, but is it enough? No. I give them space, I give them friends, I don't nag, I praise them, and admire them. Still, they disappear. I weep.

It's definitely an on-again, off-again relationship! They can't seem to decide whether they want to stay with me or not. And most of them change so much, I hardly recognize them anymore.

To be more specific, while they do reseed for me, they either mix/cross so much they change to where I miss the originals, or the ones that I really love don't seem to reseed.

I have a lot of Green Apple, which figures because I don't care so much for that downward-facing double bell. Of course these are the ones that thrive and spread.

Can't seem to hold onto the Songbird series (I think that's the name.)

And the most faithful of the bunch is literally growing in the crack between two bricks in my patio, and has been growing there for years. I keep saying I am going to move it, but I am afraid I will kill it. It's a Woodside variety with a gorgeous color and the plant absolutely thrives in its strange little spot. I suppose I could save some seeds....

I thought I had a photo of it growing from the crack, but I can't find it. But here's a photo of its blooms, nicely (and totally coincidentally) paired with a potted deutzia that lived on the patio for a few years.

Well, I like, like them, but I don't love, love them, lol. They are great fillers when you want something that will disappear in the summer and leave room for summer bloomers. Not too bad!

Beautiful picture diggerdee!

funnthsun wrote: They are great fillers when you want something that will disappear in the summer and leave room for summer bloomers.

I agree. And they are even more valuable the shadier the location.

Those are some gorgeous photos. Thanks. They remind me more than ever why I need to start over with these.

rouge - Interesting you find some do well in shade. That hasn't been my experience at all except for canadensis. I must have been growing the wrong varieties because everything I tried was pretty pathetic except in almost full sun.

I have to agree with the ball-shaped ones. Aren't those often know as the Granny-bonnet types? I really dislike them. I'm kind of a purist when it comes to flower shapes. I like the classics which probably explains why I dislike double daylilies and double lilies of any kind.

If you're really into the species, 2 others you should try are chrysantha - a really brilliant yellow - and flabellata - a very nice dwarf with some of the prettiest foliage I have ever seen - very fan shaped and a nice blue-green. Unfortunately, both of these always disappeared for me the year after flowering.

Kevin

Yes Kevin it is the "Granny Bonnets" that are the ones that I don't like nearly as much as the 'spurred' flower types.

I always considered columbine to be a flower for (much) less than full sun but checking on-line I do see "Full Sun to Part Sun" listed.

All I can go on is personal experience and for example that "Blue and White" one I show above is in a location which gets direct sun from maybe 8 am until about 9:30 am and that's it. It is in pretty good shade the rest of the day...dry shade actually as it is under a very large tree with tons of surrounding saplings.

This post was edited by rouge21 on Sat, Mar 23, 13 at 12:33

who knew.. that my tongue in cheek reply.. would be such a rich vein of humor.. lol ..

the best thing about them.. is that you start with a green plant.. and end up with a variegated plant.. and that mystifies me .. and i leave them.. to explain to garden visitors .. that the miners do no real harm.. and offer me a FREE variegated plant .. lol

i have the species.. CO state plant.. and one single purple that somehow survives.. w/o reseeding aggressively.. i am always surprised.. how it one or two.. never a lot..

i grow them in full shade ... and round up any that escape the area i want them in ..

ken

Ken, I think the same way you do - I try to think of leaf miner damage as nothing more than a variegated leaf, lol.

Kevin, your comment about shade took me by surprise. Like rouge, I always thought that columbines were *supposed to* be grown in shade! Mine are all in at least part shade (as is most of my yard!) and I would never have thought to put them in full sun. Funny...

And lastly, I forgot to add in my previous post that rouge, your Blue and White Origami columbines are absolutely beautiful! I love the bloom form on that - that's the one I have trouble keeping around. All the ball/double-bell shaped ones seem to love my yard a bit too much for my taste.

Woodyoak, is that some kind of pink honeysuckle that the columbines are growing around? Very pretty.

Dee

I grow my columbines under a tree, it is very bright shade, but never gets direct sun, so that is my experience with them. I started out with a simple dark purple and white can't remember the variety, it's been years and don't think I have a tag from it). Of course, they have crossed and changed so much at this point that I have anything from dark purple to a dark hot pink and every shade in between. Love to see what new variety will come up each year.

Have grown a sizeable variety of columbines, mostly hybrids, over the years. All were purchased as plants in flower. Usually don't notice that much greater longevity in the hybrids than in North American native species.

Occasionally, a Biedermeier, Winky or McKana's Giant persists for years (even ten or more), maybe in a favoured location. The Biedermeier below is about ten years old and has been divided.

Find the species Japanese fan and alpine columbines seed around a bit. Particularly like the colour of the latter.

I like the barlows, They need a fair amount of sun and I am happy for the few seedlings I get.

I love the origami, - so pretty!
gc

My relationship with columbines is best when they come back the next year! Nora Barlow has reseeded for several years, even spreading to another bed.

I know there's a particular yellow that's supposed to be good re-seeder. do you know which one and any others you've had that do well over the years?

Dee - yes, that's Harlequin honeysuckle. It was totally accidental that the columbines that seeded in there match it so well!

Idabean, aguilegia canadensia Corbett will seed around. It is yellow.

I love them. I just let them reseed and they come up in most of the beds, quite often really pretty, unusual colors, mostly "granny's bonnet" double and triple ones.. Sometimes there aren't very many, some years great numbers of them. I also have the aquilegia canadensis, the wild red and yellow one, it is a favorite of hummingbirds so I let it reseed with abandon.

Sandy

Very nice, DiggerDee! That beautiful shot brings back memories. Your dark purple columbine looks just like what was left from all my columbines after they got together and did their naughty dance in my gardens.

As a novice gardener of 40 years ago, I never realized how these would spread, cross breed and revert. I planted so many different varieties. I loved their colors and long spurs and the way they brightened up my shady garden. Of course, in time I ended up with only the darkest purple columbines.They were all over the place --- even in the lawn. The woman who bought the house said she loved flowers and was so glad I had a garden. (Wonder how she felt the next spring when these began appearing in the grass?)

Molie

I wish I *would* get more of the dark purple ones. The only one I have left is that one in the crack of the patio. That's why I'm afraid to move it - don't want to kill it! Luckily it's in a corner where I usually put some containers, so it's not in a bad spot. I just arrange the containers around the columbine!

Dee

I had separated from Columbine but we are trying to work things out and a reconciliation is in the cards!

ech - Was there cross-breeding involved? I think we'd all love to hear the torrid details.

Kevin

I'm also separated from them. I hope we can reconcile as I will always love them and I miss them terribly. I'm hoping the separation will allow me to purge their living quarters of the columbine sawfly which cause the relationship to founder.

Having a mid-life crisis, I have been infatuated with some of the rarer species (A.Kurdistani, A,yabeana, A,fragrans, A.longissima) and have decided to revive an old (and fractious) relationship now that my circumstances are changed.

Of course, this may just be menopausal delusions of ever greener grass and leopards changing spots.

There have been columbine in these gardens for over twenty years. Started out with McKana Giants and many years ago collected different varieties from trades on GW Seed Exchange Forum. Some I have liked and others not so much. Have culled most of the doubles and started more from seed this year to fill in those that were removed or have vanished. Also am starting seed from my mom's garden as memorial.

Some blue:

Aquilegia alpina just coming into bloom.

I'm curious, am I the only one who has been infiltrated by columbine sawfly? (I'm thinking of renaming them The Borg) These voracious little devils make me long for the days when I only had some leaf miner decoration.

I've been enjoying columbine for at least the past 5 years. I started some from seed someone sent me. And I've purchased a couple of plants called 'Dragonfly'. Those I started from seed reseed every season. I haven't seen any seedlings of the 'Dragonfly' variety yet.

They are really easy and don't go too far with their reseeding tendencies.

Here's another view of them in the border.

prairiemoon, WOW,thats so pretty. Thanks for showing the border.

hostaholic - I hadn't heard of a columbine sawfly until you mentioned it. I did have a terrible problem with sawfly on one (only one) azalea bush some years back. Every single year the plant would be covered with the little green monsters. For some reason they never migrated to any of my other azaleas - maybe because they were in a different part of the yard.

(those photos are just wonderful!)

Kevin

hostaholic - I discovered the columbine sawfly last year. I've decided that if I see even one of those green little devils this year, my columbine plants are getting yanked. I spent way too much time last year trying to pick "worms" off leaves and I'm not doing it again!!

After two years of doing battle with the little devils, last summer I yanked my columbine. I'm hoping that by making a clean break maybe in a couple of years I can let some back into my life. Kevin, I hope they don't find you. cbusgirl, I know the feeling.

After reading a bit more about sawfly, it looks like I may have identified the slug-like critters on one of my goldenrod. Every year the goldenrod is chewed to near non-existence and it appears it's another species of sawfly. Not all sawfly larvae are green and caterpillar-like. Boy, there certainly are a lot of species with very specific tastes!

Kevin

Have seen little evidence of a sawfly problem here over the last several decades. For me, a perennial that shows any such problem gets an immediate haircut.

In the occasional extreme case, (lily beetles here), I just don't use the affected plants any more.

Wonderful pictures 'Sunny' and 'Prairie'...so makes me long for spring and summer.

I love columbine of all kinds, but find them to be fleeting. They often failed to come back the year later, or get killed by the heat. On the plus side, while they get hit by leaf miners, they are rarely affected. Mines never reseed, probably because i have mulch at the base.

Paul

'Kevin' wrote: I have to agree with the ball-shaped ones. Aren't those often know as the Granny-bonnet types? I really dislike them.

UPDATE:

Just this week one of these same columbines have begun to flower.

To me there is too much monotone green foliage relative to the size and # of flowers. Do you see what I mean?

I'm not sure if this one is a keeper. For now, I use it as a filler. It was here when we purchased the home, so I put them all behind the shed in partial sun. I *think* it's Tequila Sunrise.

I moved them from a front planting bed, and they're still popping up throughout the bed, and now the volunteers are popping up in the new planting bed.

I think I'd be more excited if I had more than one variety. Looks nice against the backdrop of my pure white shed though.

Definitely easy to grow, and easy to pull.

Perhaps I'd like more of a challenge?

I'm not sure if this one is a keeper. For now, I use it as a filler. It was here when we purchased the home, so I put them all behind the shed in partial sun. I *think* it's Tequila Sunrise.

I moved them from a front planting bed, and they're still popping up throughout the bed, and now the volunteers are popping up in the new planting bed.

I think I'd be more excited if I had more than one variety. Looks nice against the backdrop of my pure white shed though.

Definitely easy to grow, and easy to pull.

Perhaps I'd like more of a challenge?

Oh, but rouge, the foliage is SO beautiful! (although I DO see what you mean!)

BTW, those are quite upward facing blooms, it seems... I don't think I've ever seen those. Is it possible to get a close-up of a bloom?

Dee

Hey Dee. Here it is:

Wish this had Like as in Facebook! I would Like a lot of these pictures. Columbine are one of my favourites and I am waiting for the blooming to start. I saw one plant yesterday so it is time to watch.

Clayton

Thanks rouge! Beautiful color and nice blooms - I really have never seen upward facing blooms like this on a columbine. Honestly if I just saw the bloom and not the foliage, I don't think I would have guessed it was a columbine. Maybe I need to get out more...

Does it have a name or is it too far gone (i.e. intermixed with others?)

Dee

Looks like a blue barlow. Lost some of my mature columbines this winter but have many second year ones that are starting to bloom. Most are self seeded so am interested to see what the blooms will be like. Also winter sowed some varieties to add for more blooms next year. Only Leprachuan has germinated so far.

All my winter sown columbines are now blooming & have reliably come back the last three growing seasons. By happy accident I planted a white one and a black one side-by-side (both of which grow to the same height) that makes a rather stunning show at the back corner of the house. Most of mine are growing in either part sun or dappled shade. There are any number of volunteers that come up here and there, mostly in the cracks between driveway pavement & cement garage floor. One in particular has returned each spring for the past seven years. I love the elegant foliage and dainty flowers but have only the spurred varieties & one or two Barlow plants. Can't really say I go for the granny-bonnet types.

I have mine in mostly shade growing around my mailbox. They are perfect for shade gardens. I have dark purple, pink, and the wild native ones that are pink with a yellow center. All of mine were from seed trades on here. Along with my fall blooming toad lilies, they are my favorite shade flower. I will be putting some columbine seeds up for trade soon. I have so many seed pods developing this year.

My relationship with the bought ones was short (they die after year 3 at the latest). But they left me with a lot of babies, one uglier than the other.