PlantFiles: Greater Meadow Rue, Columbine Meadow Rue
Thalictrum aquilegifolium

Grows about 4-5 feet tall in my part sun garden and has very nice heads of pink flowers which look like clouds. Very nice in the spring garden easy to care for and I've never had it self sow for me, but I've moved it around a number of times in the 5 or so years I've had it so maybe that has something to do with it. A great and easy plant!

I don't even remember planting this, but each year when it comes up beside the house in the corner garden, it puts on such a delightful show.

Basically I give it no care and leave it alone. The soil is well drained but fairly moist and receives full sun.

A perennial plant giving flowers in spring and early summer. It likes full Sun and a moist humus-rich soil. Propagate by the division of clumps. pokerboy.

It's taken three years to get this plant to flower (probably because I don't usually water my garden) and it still only has two flower heads this year but I love it now that I've seen it in bloom and am looking forward to it getting bigger next year. I hit -35 F last year and it came through with flying colours even though our snow cover was less than usual.
Now I just have to remember to point the clematis in a different direction next spring because it's climbing up the Thalictrum right now.

The flower colour is mauve, a colour which has a bad name, but I like it. I tend to work in pastels if given a choice, and this one fits in nicely with the predominantly pink and blue of my spring/early summer garden.

This is the easiest of the Thalictrums to grow. It can even be invasive. But, imagine a world taken over by T. aquilegifolium.... If you like the leaves of columbines, but don't like all the leaf miners and decaying foliage after bloom, this close cousin is an excellent plant. The foliage is really attractive and helps create a woodland feel for a shady area. They tolerate strong sun, but need water to compensate. The darker pink they are, the better. The almost white cultivars are just not that nice. The deep mauve 'Thundercloud' is stunning.

Seed heads are fairly attractive, so I leave them until they start ripening and turning brown. Remove them or you'll have them all over the place. They do not spread from the roots. An individual plant will form a clump about 6-8" in diameter at the base, spreading it's leaves in a 1-1.5 foot radius around that. The leaf structures are usually about 1-2 feet high, and the flowers stand on stalks about 3 feet high. They transplant very easily, and they can easily be pulled out of the ground to control them too.

This plant makes a good vertical accent in light shade. It can self-seed invasively if not deadheaded, though.

Clump forming, flowers are pink, lilacr or greenish white and are fluffy clusters on strong stems. Gray geen leaves comprise small, elliptical, toothed leaflets in a feather like arrangement. Blooms in summer.