wait for the columbine...does the gerbera need water?

Is this in a very sunny area? If so, the reflected heat from the sidewalk could be a problem depending on how close to the sidewalk the plants are located. I moved a fall aster this spring. It had been right next to a sidewalk and the heat simply fried the blooms every year. After seeing this happen for a number of years, I finally got the hint.

Kevin

I have a "volunteer" columbine that started coming up every year about 7-8 years ago in a crack where driveway asphalt abuts garage foundation cement. It hasn't bloomed--until now. This year, for the first time, it's covered with buds and the first bloom to open is such a pale, delicate shade of powder blue it's stunning. The spot gets almost no direct sun.

There are times when it pays to be patient.

Also in NE Ohio. All of my Columbine are open blooming. Some are 2 feet tall. They are all blooming in various degrees of shade, sun, and watering (some I haven't watered at all this year).
Not sure what your issue is, (I'm pretty new) but thought you'd like to know for comparison's sake!

columbine are annuals.. biennial at best ... it could not have taken years to bloom ...

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if the you can not maintain sufficient water for the gerber to not wilt.. it has to be moved ...

been decades.. but i seem to think they are very heavy water users ... which means... that it would be preferable.. to not have them in sun.. in the heat of the day.. when they use more water.. than their roots can pump .. never forget.. sun between noon and 5 pm.. has much more impact on water use ... than full sun at dusk and/or dawn ... [and as noted.. pavement is a problem .. many such stressed plants.. can survive... if they can grow the requisite root mass.. an/or.. have anight recovery period.. but if the darn pavement/brick.. stays hot in August .. until 4 in the morning ... then there is no recovery period ...]

full sun.. is 8 hours, generally speaking .... but it doent have to be.. all in a row ...

find a better spot ...

ken

I would guess that some zones may kill off the columbine, so it would be treated as an annual there. In my zone, it is most definitely a perennial -- or even seems to be evergreen for certain established clumps. Even one particular clump that I somehow messed up the taproot and ended up reburying it less than 1" from the soil surface -- it withstood the colder than usual winter (for this area) and is thriving this season.

That's how I sometimes find out, by accident, how durable a particular plant variety is -- by not giving it the best conditions to grow in.