PlantFiles: Canadian Columbine, Wild Columbine
Aquilegia canadensis

A native of North America and can be found growing wild on rocky and wooded slopes. Foliage is light green and leaves are divided into 3-lobed leaflets. Flowers are nodding and bell-like with red spurs and yellow petals. Grow them in good garden soil in partial shade. They are tolerant of sunnier conditions if they are given enough moisture and not left to dry out. The bright flowers are an attractive treat to hummingbirds.

Columbine is a Missouri native spring wildflower which occurs in rocky woods, slopes, ledges and open areas throughout the State. Features drooping, bell-like, 1-2", red and yellow flowers (red sepals, yellow-limbed petals, 5 distinctive red spurs and a mass of bushy yellow stamens). Delicate, biternate foliage is somewhat suggestive of meadow rue (Thalictrum) and remains attractive throughout the summer as long as soils are kept moist. Flowers are quite attractive to hummingbirds.

If you like Columbine, you will love this lovely plant. Unlike modern hybrids, they are resistant to leaf miners.

You should provide 10 days of cold moist stratification.

Nectar-feeding visitors and bees visiting for the pollen are the agents of cross- pollination. The flower is adapted to prevent self-pollination. The stamens mature first, starting from the outside ring and moving toward the center, shedding all their pollen before the styles emerge at the mouth of the flower and spread their feathery stigmas to receive pollen. Even if the male and female phases overlap briefly, pollen cannot fall upward from the longer stamens onto the shorter styles in the hanging flowers.

Wild columbine is an old-fashioned garden plant, cultivated in Europe and America since the mid-1600s. It's easy to grow from seeds or from divisions of rootstocks in the spring. It prefers a moist, well drained, slightly acid, sandy loam with organic matter but will grow in a wide range of soils, including clays, especially if they drain well and have organic matter added. It does best in light shade but will tolerate full sun if daytime temperatures are not too hot. Sow seeds from spring to early summer or in flats during winter for transplanting outdoors in spring. Newly ripened seeds will germinate without treatment if sown outdoors in seedbeds or flats. Nursery stock should be set out in the spring or in the fall when dormant. Seedlings do not flower the first season.

Although in nature individual plants may persist for years, under garden conditions individuals may last only a few years. Wild columbine readily seeds itself, however, and new plants spread rapidly in the garden.

This columbine is a vigorous self-sower, which makes it good for a partly shaded woodland garden if you want a sort of wild look. The hummingbirds also appreciate it.

A friend gave me one A. canadensis plant about a year ago. It struggled along in the shady spot where I thought it would grow best. It did produce a few flowers from which I was able to gather seed. The friend that gave me the original plant advised that I wait until September in our Zone 8b/9a climate to plant the seed. I planted the seeds in pots in September along with some hybrid columbine species. Just about every seed germinated and I now have about one dozen A. canadensis as well as about a dozen other columbine varieties.

My method of planting in my garden was a bit different from the recommendations above. My A. canadensis (and other columbine species) in nearly full to full sun grew very vigorously and bloomed profusely. Our NE Fla soil is very sandy, which may help with drainage. Our daytime summer temperatures can top out over 100 F. I do water the plants just about daily except during rain. I have not had any problems with wilting or pests. I don't use any fertilizer other than broadcasting about 50 lbs of Millorganite throughout my 1/2 acre garden about twice a year. You can view a pix that Amaryllisgal took at our May 2005 Roundup of one of my hybrid columbines in full sun at [HYPERLINK@davesgarden.com]

A few of my A. canadensis bloomed around December and continued blooming throughout the winter. Most of the plants, however, waited until about March to flower and still have flowers now in late May.

My columbine plants stand about 2 ft tall with a full mound of leaves and flower stalks that reach about 3 ft tall. I'll try to get some pix to post of the plants while they are still in bloom. They are very impressive and were much admired at our Roundup.

Hey, Debzone3.

I recently transplanted my columbines around my yard without any problem. They went through a slight shock, and then perked up and went right back to flowering! I have a yellow columbine that is still has about 6 perfect flowers on it and we are into our 98 F days of summer here. Apparently, they are more heat tolerant than I expected.


I'm adding seeds for A. canadensis (original red & yellow type) to my trade list for SASE. Contact me if you want any seeds. I may also have seeds of other colors of columbines to add to my trade list. I'll have to see if any of the seed heads still contain seeds in the other colors.

I see from most of the notes above that people tend to voluntarily acquire their Columbine. I was so pleasantly surprised this evening when I discovered that one lovely A. canadensis plant has magically appeared and is flourishing in my (Canadian) garden next to, and shaded by, the raspberries. I'll be sure to bag the seedheads and plant the seeds elsewhere in the garden. I wonder whether I can transplant the existing one, given the raspberries' aggressive territorial nature! I'll give it a try after I bag some seeds in the fall (which sometimes arrives at the end of August up here!!).

This is a nice little columbine that will grow just about anywhere. It does bloom more in the sun. Light and stratification aid germination of seeds. I have read that it is hardy in zones 3-10.

I love the flowers on this plant. I have it next to our back porch. I didn't know it was poisionous though, so I may move it away from the fenced area where my dog is, so there is no danger to him. It returns every year here in southern Kentucky.

In the wild, I usually find them growing in areas where partial or some minimal amount of sun is available - i.e. edge habitats or areas where the canopy doesn't develop quickly or completely.

I've had good success starting seed by freezing the seed first.

They grow from a rhizome. I've had success transplanting the root clusters from one garden to another.

They do well in my clay loam soil but in the wild I've seen them in everything from sand to swamp.

Good Gardening !

P.S. don't dig out wild plants.

had the plant for 2nd growing season no problems
in 1st. now after losing the flower about three weeks
ago,color is fading,leaves are drooping.recently we
had a lot of rain but the soil isn't soggy maybe a little
damp

Canadian Columbine, Wild Columbine Aquilegia canadensis is native to Texas and other States.

This native Minnesota plant appeared in our yard on its own. I've seen one grow in almost full shade in a small weedy area between our garage and storage shed while another one appeared in a dry, full sun area and has already come up this year. The more you ignore this plant, the better it seems to do.