Columbine do really well here in our moist, cool climate. I've had three McKana's Giants for several years now, and they don't show any signs of expiring. The most prolific is a pink and white with huge blooms. It's produced a volunteer plant that is exactly the same, so they put on quite a show.
Another one is a maroon red and yellow.
The third is yellow.
McKana's are wonderful, tall columbine with long spurs and huge blooms. They will probably need staking, but are worth the effort. Do you grow McKanas?
We planted some this year for the first time and they are in FULL sun but are staying moist. No flowers yet. They just look like big cilantro plants!
I hope that mine grow up to look like yours.
Do columbine do well in your area? Do they die back in the summer?
They look like a hybrid of A. canadensis... is that right?
How tall are they?
I looked it up, and one site lists it as A. caerula, Rocky Mountain columbine: http://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/aqucaerulea.htm
http://plantsdatabase.com/go/965/index.html
At any rate, they are definitely a hybrid, though available from seed. They reseed well, but you never know what the offspring will be. In the case of the pink one, the volunteer was exactly the same. The yellow also comes back true. The maroon/yellow one often comes back much lighter.
As to height, I see them listed as 30", though mine gets much taller than than... I would guess 36", and when in full bloom, they can reach 48" here in Seward, Alaska.
Weez, those are beautiful. I wish I could grow them.
I have some columbine, but it's not the giants, mine are more like dwarfs. Here's the plant, the blooms which are purple and white, just recently fell off. This was the second blooming this year.
I feel lucky to have these surviving here since our zone is so hot.
:^)))
Molly
That's interesting, MollyMc. The leaves don't look like the dwarf flabellatas. In fact, they resemble the leaves of our local A. formosa, which has orange-red and yellow blooms. Magpies are deep purple and white, but they have flowers on long stems. Yours may just be making do with what it has. I am interested in the columbine that will survive in hot climates, so I looked it up on Googles: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=hot+weather+aquilegia There are several types that grow in places with hot summers, but I don't know if these plants survive in areas that do not have a cold season.
Weez,
I'm looking up in my purchase records to get the exact name of that plant I photod. I did buy some McKana Giants and Double Barlow mixed, and Crimson Star, Spring Magic blue and whites. Now I'm really confused, don't know what the name of this one is and sure don't know what happened to those others.
I was so very happy to see some of them survived my inexperience.
Then some things I think died went dormant and pop up later to befuddle me.
:^)))
MOlly
It's my understanding that columbine die back during the hot season in the warm zones. Here it stays green all summer, but dies back in the winter. Here's a site that describes the Spring Magic Blue & Whites: http://canningperennials.com/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Aquilegia_Spring_Magic__Blue___White___________New_88.html lt appears to be a hybrid, but it looks a great deal like A. flabellata, or Blue Fan, Columbine.
Great Weez, that's the one. And I found another picture from May 13 on the earlier blooming.
So you think the rest of them will come back again later?
I could only hope. Every day I am still learning.
:^)))
Molly
I wouldn't give up on them Molly. Keep us posted.
