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Planting, Growing, and Caring for Columbines
Have you seen this enchanting wildflower? Columbine (Aquilegia), with its multi-colored petals, blooms from spring through early summer. Though this native perennial appears delicate, it’s among the hardiest of native plants and is deer-resistant and pollinator-friendly. Learn all about growing columbine.
What is a Columbine Flower?
Columbine (Aquilegia), aka granny’s bonnet, is a perennial flower that blooms in the spring. There are more than 70 species of columbines, including native columbines that grow wild in mountain areas, along stream beds, and in temperate woodlands. The deep-blue columbines that grow as wildflowers in the Colorado mountains are direct descendants of the earliest columbines.
What Does a Columbine Flower Look Like?
This unusual and breathtakingly beautiful flower displays a small bell-shaped buttercup-like flower with five petals nestled within five long backward-extending spurs. The petals are often bi-colored and may be bright red with pink, lavender, blue, yellow, white, or a combination of these colors! Columbines cross-pollinate easily, so new species form frequently. Their pretty blue-green, lacy foliage stays green long after the blossoms disappear, turning purple or red in the fall.
The flowers attract butterflies, bees, moths, and hummingbirds—but thankfully, not deer! This hardy plant is also quite resilient and drought-tolerant. Once started, columbine propagates for years and, although perennial, increases most rapidly by self-seeding.
See the video below to view this flower in many shades:
Columbines grow well in the sun or light shade. Although these plants aren’t picky about soil conditions, they do prefer well-draining soil of average fertility.
When to Plant Columbine
- Direct-sow in the ground in the fall or after last spring’s frost.
- Alternatively, sow seeds indoors 8 to 10 weeks before the last spring frost.
How to Plant Columbine
- Press the seed into the soil, but do not cover it.
- Thin to the strongest plants.
- If setting a mature plant into a container, create a hole twice the diameter of the “old” pot. Set the top of the root ball level with the soil surface. Fill in with soil, then tamp gently and water.
- Outdoors, space mature plants 1 to 2 feet apart, depending on the mature size of the variety. Water thoroughly.
Catherine Boeckmann
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I have the native columbines in my perennial beds here too the Piedmont of North Carolina and I dearly love them. They are so delightful to see blooming early in spring as they are a good stand alone flower needing no others to make them shine. I love how they reseed and send more and more volunteers each year. If you don’t know columbine, you should!!
Native eastern red columbine bloom in the woods here in Conn.; such a wonderful native plant~
I have (HAD) a gorgeous red one and a multicolored one - both have been eaten down to the ground by deer, repeatedly. I'm not sure why this site indicates that it is deer resistant - more like deer attractant. If you get one and have deer come into your yard, be sure to protect your columbine with some netting or something. It IS gorgeous, when not eaten to the ground.
I think "Deer and rabbit Resistant" is a misnomer. A deer or rabbit will eat just about anything if they are hungry enough..
I truly love all the information you send out, the receipes, health issues and the quotes and fact findings, the garden issues with the pictures have helped me to have a better and more beautiful garden, I thank the editors and the staff of the farmers almanac, THANK YOU, great job, I look forward to every issue.
Columbine is Colorado state's flower. Avery beautiful, delicate blume. This year i chose to plant something that woukd be deer resistant and drought worthy.
I planted 16 adult plants in FULL BLOOM costing almost $200. Aling with a few other plants for a big splash of color. But mostly because they are deer resistant.
By morning EVERYone of these plants were eaten to the core if the plant.
These plants do not flower the entire summer so all I have is nubbs until next year.
Please don't believe everything you read.
How do I order some of these flowers.
I have a large bed of columbines I've had for many years. being in Az. I"ve always watered them thru out the summer, is there a time when I should let them go dormant. We don't have much of a winter, I do cut them back in the fall.
presently some have dried up but there are still a lot of green foliage showing and an occasional flower.
Tina, I think your original (mother) Columbine set seeds and died and the seeds germinated
and since Columbine do not bloom until they are two years old you'll have to wait until the
seeds are another year old. As for the second question about a yellow Columbine turning yellow - same answer, I think their was a purple seed in the yellow Columbine's soil and when the yellow one died the purple one grow to replace it.
I have bought two of these in the past and only one came back and bloomed, the first time they bloomed they were big flower blooms, after the first year the blooms were really small, also the other one comes up and does not bloom, and I also have volunteers come up, foliage is good but does not bloom, please help
