Frankly, it’s hard to see or hear the word columbine without remembering the deadly shooting in Colorado in 1999.
Rather, I like to think of columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) as one of the first native perennials that I planted and learned about. Not only do I like the Eastern red columbine, hummingbirds like it, too. It’s one of the first plants hummers visit in my landscape.
Aquilegia comes from the Latin Aquilla or eagle. This refers to the talon-like or spur-like portion that juts from the bottom of the flower.
Grow columbine in sun or shade in soil that drains well. It makes an excellent cut flower. And there are a lot of varieties or cultivars on the market, including dwarf types and double flowering.
Columbine has a few pests. One is leaf miners, which make railroad-like tracks in the leaves. A second one is the columbine sawfly, which eats the leaves. I’ve noticed more of this insect damage on columbine hybrids than on the native.
