Columbines, with their ferny foliage and nodding flowers in saturated pastels, are add color, texture and a bit of height to the garden. They also tend to attract nector seekers like hummin birds and butterflies. Columbine plants tend to be easy maintenance, although insects besides butterflies find them quite tempting. The worst problem is leaf miners, but the resulting trail markings on the leaves, while not attractive, isn't fatal. In a healthy garden, columbines will out perform their problems.
Here I've selected a white flowering variety, Aquilegia flabellata 'Nana Alba' (USDA Zones 4 - 9, 9" x 12", White Blooms: May - June). However you'll find columbines in pink, yellow, purples and reds. Columbine can be divided, but you'll find they will self-seed on their own, although not uncontrollably. You may get repeat blooms if you deadhead spent flowwers.
Altough columbine can be hardy from USDA Zones 3 - 9, they will require the protection of moist shade in hotter regions. They grow easily from seed, but many of the commonly available columbines are hybrids and you will often wind up with a mix of colors, when growing from seed. The eastern North American native columbine, Aquilegia canadensis, tends to be less popular with leaf miners.
Alternatives
- Aquilegia 'Swan White', (USDA Zones 3 - 8, 20" x 18", White Blooms: May - June)
- Semiaquilegia ecalcarata, Spineless Columbine (USDA Zones 6 - 8, 24" - 30", Burgundy Blooms: May - June)