How to Care for Columbine Perennials
With soft-mounding scalloped leaves and delicate blossoms nodding on flower stems, columbine (Aquilegia) is appropriate for borders, cottage gardens or naturalizing wooded areas. There are more than 65 species of columbine, most ranging in height from 1 to 3 feet tall, although A. chrysantha reaches 4 feet. The bonnet-like flowers come in single hues and bi-colored in shades of white, pink, crimson, yellow, purple and blue; modern hybrids have spurs on the back of the flowers. This perennial grows in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 3 through 9. Once established, columbine require little care.
Apply a complete plant food on established plantings of columbines. Begin in early spring, when new growth appears, and reapply monthly.
Watch for the columbines to sprout in the spring. The blossoms last for about six weeks. Deadhead faded blossoms to stimulate a second blooming.
Water the flowers regularly to keep the soil moist - but not soggy - to a depth of 1 inch. Do not allow the soil of new columbines to dry out between watering.
Spread a 2-inch layer of mulch around the base of columbines. Use plant stakes or rings to support taller varieties of the flower.
Watch for snails. Pick them by hand or spread diatomaceous earth around the base of the flower. Leaf miners leave an unsightly squiggly line below the surface of the leaf, but they do not kill the columbines.
Cut old growth to the ground as it dies. Leave the last flowers on the columbine to develop seed capsules. Remove these for planting the following year or leave them to burst and self-sow the flower.
- Complete plant food
- Plant stakes, optional
- Diatomaceous earth
- Garden shears
- Seeds from hybrid columbine may not look like the parent plant.
- Add columbine to cut flower arrangements and the dried seed pods to dried arrangements.
- The New Sunset Western Garden Book; Kathleen Norris Brenzel
- The Flower Gardener’s Bible; Lewis and Nancy Hill
- The Complete Garden Flower Book; Catie Ziller
- Burpee Complete Gardener; Barbara W. Ellis
- Bay Natives: Aquilegia formosa
- Washington State University Horticulture and Landscape Architecture: Aquilegia
- Texas Agrilife Extension Service: Growing Columbines
- Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images