Does Columbine (Aquilegia Hybridia) self-seed?

I noticed some sticky seed pods opening up last year, and I saved some of them aside in an envelope. Can I plant these seeds now and still grow the Columbine plant? My columbine plant isnt very big (maybe 5 buds and 1 bloom so far. Caterpillars ate most of them) and it's actually kind of lonely looking by itself in the large outdoor planter i have it in. What can I do to help this plant grow fuller and bloom better?

P.P. ~ Columbine does self-seed. In fact, if you have different varieties of Columbine growing near each other they sometimes cross-pollinate creating new and unusual varieties. It's one of the unique traits that makes Columbine special.

You can also collect the seeds from those pods. Let them dry on the plant. When dry, if you shake them you can hear the seeds rattling inside. You don't even need to plant them. You can just shake the seeds around your flower beds.

I haven't had problems with caterpillars eating my Columbines, but I do sometimes have problems with leaf miners that leave unsightly trails on the leaves, but only in some of my flower beds.

Here's some interesting info on collecting Columbine seeds that I saved a long time ago. Besides the pictures, there's a video near the bottom of the page.

http://mrbrownthumb.blogspot.com/2010/10/how-to-collect-columbine-flower-seeds.html

Good Luck!

Self-seeding is dropping seeds and having them grow with no help from you at all, and yes, columbines do that. (So do dandelions and lots of other flowering plants, many of which are thought of as weeds.)

What columbines are even more famous for doing is hybridizing, or crossing. If you have a tall red late columbine next to an early, purple, short columbine, it's anybody's guess how the plants grown from their seeds will look. The seeds have to be fertilized, remember, and they could get fertilized by any columbine that is in the vicinity.

Seed saving is not my area, but I believe there is a whole forum for it. When you talk about saving the seeds, that's what you're talking about, where you (a human) save the seeds and plant them instead of them taking care of it by themselves. Your seeds may not be fertile (some plants are created so they don't waste energy setting seed, and focus all their energy on blooming or being multicolored foliage or whatever). However, if your seeds ARE fertile, they will grow into some type of columbine.

There are ways of checking whether the seeds are fertile; I think people put several seeds in a folded damp paper towel for a few days and check for sprouts. However, they wouldn't bloom until next year; you would need to grow them for a while (a few months) and they will bloom in the spring.

If you want more columbines immediately, you need to buy more plants. It's a little more difficult and WAY cheaper to buy seeds from a vendor (Burpee, Park, HomeDepot, depending on what your'e looking for) and grow plants from that. If you grow the seeds you saved--which, I may point out, were 100% free--they may grow and they may not. But it won't cost you anything to experiment and it will be exciting and fun.

If they grow and if you like how they look, you can keep them. Most likely, you will be infected by this lovely, ridiculous gardening disease we all have. Then you will a)buy seeds specifically for a particular look of columbine, b)buy other seeds for other plants c)collect seeds from every plant you find and d)trade your seeds for other people's seeds so you can e)grow more different plant. You touched on many different areas in your post. I could tell you about growing perennials (like columbine) in a container, too, but most of these have their own forums here. (Container plants, perennials, seed saving, soil and composting, etc. etc.)

If you only want to know about helping your columbine, columbines do better in dappled shade than in full sun, you need to pick off caterpillars if you can, and make sure there is neither too much nor too little water. The next question is what kind of soil do you have it in, although I don't remember columbines as needing a lot of fertilizer. If they are planted in potting soil from a Big Box store, they likely have enough fertilizer for a while.

Typically, we plant annuals (marigolds, geraniums, impatiens) in containers and perennials (roses, columbine, peonies) in the ground. But there are tons of exceptions.

Thank you both for such detailed answers!

Caterpillars ate most of the young leaves/buds down to the stems when it came back up early this spring. I love that it comes back, but it would be nice to see it thrive better with more flowers. I have a cat and she likes to wander outside, so maybe my little huntress might be keeping away any birds that help even out all the moths/butterflies leaving their babies on my plant.

And yes, I am not the self-seeder in this situation hahah I, the human, have saved some seeds from last year, and I DO have this gardening disease, so I will be testing out these seeds later this summer to try and put out some more columbines.

I only have one Columbine, and I think I'm the only one on my street with one, so hybridizing my hybrid seems slim. I love the chance of different varieties though!

I have it in some typical brand name potting soil I found in my local department store, i can't remember which brand. I made sure to give it a large outdoor-planter to have plenty of room to grow but I hope it hasn't got TOO much room (yikes).

I have different varieties (some with spurs and some without) mostly in reds and deep maroons and a couple that bloom almost white. Last spring I had one pop up with the most beautiful lavender and white flowers and I know I never planted one in that shade.

This year It looks like I have lots more Columbine plants that have started to grow around my flower beds. I'm excited to see what colors the flowers will be.

BTW...Hummingbirds will visit Columbine blooms.

A minor note... not "sometimes" but nearly always. Columbines are very well known for so-called "promiscuity" (that is, cross-pollination), and when different species are grown in proximity, the seed from any should generally not be assumed to represent the original species.

The size, colour and any other genetics that went into the pollination of the 2 types of columbine that made / formed the seeds will be what determines the plants over all appearance. so your plant might never grow into a tall lush looking plant.
All you can do is make sure it's watered and maybe fed due to it being in a planter, the soil in such containers do get depleted of nutrients.
Make sure you keep weeds at bay as most folks look on these lovely plants as tough and robust, some species are actually quite delicate,
With regards the Catterpillars that are chewing on the foliage, you need to start removing the bugs as you find them, the plants actually need the foliage to give food to the plants, they give some shelter from hot sun and also, the lovely shaped edging to the leaves are attractive.
Have you seen the Catterpillars on the plants, if so, remove and stamp on them, if you are guessing then the other culprit to look out for, especially eating the leaves are Earwig's, they are more night feeders and hide away in day light, the Earwigs are about half inch long, thin and have 2 little pinchers at the rear end, they also eat greenfly but, make a meal out of greenery too.
Hope this helps you a little and you get more nice plants from your seed sewing.
Kind Regards.
WeeNel.

I did pick off what I could find, tiny little lime green worms hanging onto the edges of my leaves and buds just going to town with their lunch. I didnt want to smash them because I didn;t know if they were butterfly caterpillars or not. I didnt't want to take away from my plant what in the future could help it grow and be the beautiful hummingbird/butterfly plant it can be!

Finally pictures, here is my little columbine.

What you are now finding out is, one of the many bug problems loads of gardeners face each spring. There are good bugs and bad bugs, the little green Catterpillers are the bane of every gardeners life as they munch there way through the garden Not just eating Aquilegia / Columbine, but some settle for a vegetarian diet of any Veg that is free for their supper out in the Veg patch, others like tree blossom, while others like the buds of fresh flowers getting ready to open. there are many different types of Butterflies and eat type has a different colour or shape / size of Catterpiller, I would suggest you get rid of the little green ones you have hanging from your little pant, in a few weeks, these will perhaps turn into moths / butterflies who will lay fresh eggs under the leaves and a new hatch of little green creepy munching bugs will decimate more plants, fly onto the neighbours plants and start their cycle all over again.

If you dont want to crush, kill them, pick them off and place them on a bird feeder or saucer where you know birds gather in search of food.
There is nothing admirable about allowing plant eating bugs to spread out into others garden IF it can be avoided,
The other way to help YOUR plant is to use a teaspoon of vinegar and halp pint of water, mix them together and spray the plant, the underside of the leaf too, the last problem you will; have from the little green catterpillers is, they will strip the plants of leaves and the plant will become weak and probably die as the leaves are natures way of helping the plant draw up water to sustain the health and flower production.
I think you have a choice to make and riding the plant of these bugs will NOT prevent the humming birds feeding, infact hummers love most plants with funnel shaped flowers that they get their long beeks into, other birds cant reach the nectar so hummers love there special flowers.
The book store will have books on flowering plants for humming birds to feed on.
There are also special feeders that you fill with sweat liquid to help encourage the hummers if you hang them around your garden, especially hang them close to your window or porches where you can enjoy these little birds.
Good luck,
WeeNel.

That's a beautiful columbine. I hope you get more. (And fewer hungry bugs.)