When Wonderful Husband and I combined our gardens, I brought my beloved native and heirloom plants and he brought bamboo. Actually, that’s not entirely fair or accurate – he also brought columbines (NATIVE columbines! Miracles do happen!) as well as, ornamental grasses (including Miscanthus sinensis, which is invasive in the eastern U.S.), hostas (which I genuinely like), daffodils (ditto).

Our eastern native columbine is Aquilegia canandensis, (a soft red with yellow center) while out west, A. coerulea, the Rocky Mountain columbine (blue or purple with white center), A. Formosa (bright red with yellow centers) and A. pubescens (light yellow to creamy white) are the natives. There are other species native to Europe and Asia and tons of hybrids: breeders have created gorgeous colors and color combinations: yellows, blues, pinks, purples, doubles, you name it. Wherever you might garden, I think you’ll find a columbine you can grow.

Growing columbines

And columbines are definitely worth growing, not that they’re a lot of trouble. They are very easy to grow, enchantingly graceful plants and just about as “multi-purpose” as a plant can be. “Our” columbine, A. canandensis, an herbaceous perennial, grows in Zones 3 to 8. Supposedly, it will grow in full sun to part shade – however, in my garden, it’s planted in full shade, in pretty much plain clay soil, gets very little irrigation and seems perfectly happy.

It makes a nice, neat mound about 2-3 feet high and about 1 -2 feet wide; the blue-green leaves are quite delicate looking, but when the soft red and yellow flowers hover above the foliage, swaying in the slightest breeze, it’s simply beautiful. Plant in masses – or simply wait until it self-seeds, because it definitely will self-seed unless you deadhead the blooms.

Deadheading

Deadheading does prolong the bloom time, which in Zone 6b, starts in early April and will last through May. A good reason to go to the trouble of deadheading to lengthen the blooming time is the hummingbirds absolutely love this plant and it’s one of their earlier sources of nectar. I’ve been watching three tiny female hummers flitting from the columbines to our feeder and back for at least two weeks now.

Have I mentioned it’s deer resistant? Apart from some leaf miner damage, which looks like someone’s been writing on the leaves, it’s fairly disease and insect resistant too.

Want another reason to grow it? Wonderful Husband taught me this one: pluck a blossom and eat it. It tastes just like honeysuckle and you can use the blooms to garnish your dishes.

I’ve never had the heart to tell Wonderful Husband that he should check for bugs first!

Stay Green, Good Friends!