Columbine: Tips for Buying, Sowing & Maintaining

The flower with the unusual shape is available in many variants. Here you will find the most important information about sowing and caring for columbines.

A very special perennial species is the columbine (Aquilegia). With its extravagant flowers in strong purple to a delicate pink, it transforms many a garden into a sea of ​​flowers and is also particularly easy to care for.

Columbines were already being planted in European gardens in the late Middle Ages, and so the plant has become an integral part of numerous monastery or farm gardens. But the columbine has also found its way into many ornamental gardens - and rightly so.

Columbine: origin and characteristics

Although the flowers of the Columbine look rather complicated with their spurs and nesting, the plant belongs to the simply built plants. It is a very original and old flowering plant and even if you probably know it primarily from the garden, there are columbines even here in Germany as a wild form. The Common Columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris) likes to colonize partially shaded deciduous forests, forest edges and even mountain meadows. But the plants are not only native to Europe, because they can be found all over the northern hemisphere. The differences in the flowers are exciting. While Eurasian columbines come up with rather blue to purple-colored flowers, around Bumblebees and Bees to attract, North American species with their white, yellow and red tones specialize in hawks and hummingbirds as pollinators. The bloom time of the columbines lies in Germany in the period between May and July.

Akeleien can be identified quite easily in Asia and North America as well as in Europe. While the flowers stand out with their spurs, the leaves have long stems and are arranged in a rosette shape. The three-part leaves are characteristically notched. The plants can reach an age of four to five years.

Columbine species and varieties

Due to the large spread over the entire northern hemisphere and their long-term breeding, columbines have developed a large variety of species and varieties. There are now said to be over 70 species and many more varieties. The species are quite closely related and can partially interbreed, resulting in hybrids. This of course makes it much more difficult to differentiate between the individual species. However, Eurasian and North American species have now moved further apart genetically. Unfortunately, cultivated forms from gardens also often hybridize with wild columbines, which has already changed the original wild forms in Europe.

The following varieties of Columbine are particularly beautiful:

• A. vulgaris 'Wild form': This columbine is not only called the wild form, it is also. It is the archetype of all sorts of Aquilegia vulgaris and blooms classically in soft pink to deep purple.
• A. vulgaris ‘William Guiness’: This variety in noble Bordeaux to purple colors is only colored white at the tips of the petals. The white color creates an exciting contrast to the otherwise deep, dark bloom.
• A. vulgaris ‘Nora Barlow’: The ‘Nora Barlow’ variety is characterized by its double flowers. The white flower tips stand out clearly from the pink flower. The name of the variety comes from its discoverer Nora Barlow.
• A. caerulea ‘Jewel white’: The variety of the American Columbine species Aquilegia cearulea shines in pure white.
• A. caerulea "Blue Star": These Aquilegia caerulea-Hybride is characterized by the white petals that stand out from the otherwise blue flower.

Buy Columbine

A wide variety of columbines are on sale in the trade, mostly they are offered as seed packs. A wide variety of species from both North America and Eurasia are available. They are available as 80 centimeter high perennials, but also in dwarf form. The flowers can be double or unfilled, one or even two colored. In addition to the various Aquilegia-Species there are still the two close relatives from Asia (Semiaquilegia) and the dwarf artillery (Paraquilegia).

More about the Purchase of columbines we have prepared for you here.

Plant Columbine

Planting columbines is not really a masterpiece. As with most plants, it is best to plant your columbine in spring so that it takes root sufficiently over the summer. So it can survive the winter unscathed. For planting, you should dig a hole deep enough, loosen the columbine's root ball a little to make it easier to grow, and then place it in the hole. The rest of the hole is filled with earth. Now press the columbine a little to ensure its stability. Don't forget to water it - and the planting is done.

The perfect location for the Columbine

Columbines grow mainly in sparse forests and on the edges of forests. For this reason they prefer a partially shaded location. However, the sun usually does no harm either, especially since some species also grow in meadows. Many American species in particular prefer to stand in direct sun rather than shade. Forest soil is mostly fresh and humus, which is what the Columbine usually likes too. The location should therefore provide good soil and not be too dry.

Procedure for sowing columbines

Once the columbines are represented in the garden, they also spread quickly through their numerous seeds. Growing them from seeds is correspondingly uncomplicated. You can sow either in autumn or in early spring between February and May. The seeds of some Columbine species require a cold stimulus to germinate. It is therefore better to sow seeds of these species in autumn or then in February.

The sowing itself also works directly in the garden, but sowing in a seed tray is safer. In this case, you can put the seeds in the refrigerator for a few days to encourage them to germinate. Either way, the seeds should be kept moist after sowing. In order not to wash away small seeds, you can use a water sprayer.

Maintain Columbine

Akeleien are also native to Germany. For this reason, after planting and initial watering, they actually no longer need any care. In the right location, they can manage on their own, after all, they have to do that in the wild, too.

Water columbine properly

Naturally, columbines tend to occur in fresh locations such as in forests and on mountain meadows. Most Columbine species therefore need sufficient water. Normally the rain is sufficient for this, watering may only be necessary in extremely dry summers. Plants that grow on a very sandy substrate or in a very dry location, of course, need water every now and then when it gets too dry.

Properly cut columbine

Columbines actually don't need pruning, they thrive wonderfully even without them. So why the effort? After flowering, columbines produce an incredible amount of tiny seeds. So if you like columbines but don't want to have them everywhere in the garden, you should remove the fruit clusters after flowering. Cut off the stems of the ripening fruit clusters at the bottom of the ground. But don't wait too long before pruning, because seed development can take place quickly.

Fertilize columbine properly

As already mentioned, fertilization is not necessary in principle. A planted columbine gets along quite well with the nutrients in the substrate. The situation is different with potted plants that regularly need fertilizer. A fertilizer with organic long-term effects like ours is ideal here Plantura organic universal fertilizer at. This can also be applied to columbines growing in the bed in spring at the beginning of the growing season to give the plant an optimal start. Alternatively is also compost or Horse manure suitable for supporting fertilization.

Is the Columbine poisonous?

In the Middle Ages the columbine was not only kept as an ornamental plant, its leaves were also used against fever. as Medicinal plants The plants used mostly contain substances that are beneficial in low doses but poisonous in high doses - including columbines. Their consumption can cause various unsightly symptoms, but these also subside quickly.

More about the Ingredients of Columbine and its effect you can find out here.