As a plant breeder and collector, I’m always on the lookout for new plants. So it’s always a pleasure when the New Year arrives to introduce High Country Garden gardeners to plants that I think have great potential of becoming a valued new friend. But just having a pretty flower is just not enough anymore; potential friends need to be more than just a pretty face. With climate change in full swing, we need to understand that the collective power of our gardens in this country and across the world to sequester CO2, provide food for pollinators and provide habitat for songbirds, the plants we garden with should help to support these goals.
Columbine Meadow Rue is an Old World perennial, grown for both its flowers and attractive foliage. When the lavender-pink, late spring flowers fade, the delicate columbine-like foliage provides a visual treat for the rest of the growing season. A herbaceous plant, it will die back to the ground in winter. The flowers are also good for pollinating bees and butterflies. But the foliage is resistant to browsing deer and rabbits.
In the western US where the sun is much stronger than in the hazy skies of the eastern US, plant it in partial shade so as not to scorch the delicate foliage. Because it does well in partial or dappled shade, it’s a fine choice for under-planting shade trees and beds where sun lovers fail.
Very durable and easy-to-grow, it likes a compost-enriched garden loam with medium to moist growing conditions. Thalictrum is a wonderful companion plant for Sedge (Carex) and Kashmir Sage (Phlomis cashmeriana). This species is native to Europe and central Asia. Zones 5-8.