PlantFiles: European Columbine, European Crowfoot, Granny's Bonnet
Aquilegia vulgaris 'Winky Blue and White'

I fell in love with this flower as soon as I saw it in my local nursery's catalog, which is what I do all winter long. I bought 2 small plants in the end of spring 2010, they grew beautifully and rewarded me with blooms this spring, 2011. Unfortunately, I live in a condo and during spring clean up the 'landscapers' decided to pull one of them but I was lucky enough that they do not understand anything about 'weeds' so they just broke it off, leaving the roots intact. Needless to say I was very unhappy, to say the least, but it came back and it is not as full as that other plant but I hope it will bloom just as good next spring.

A local plant guru must be descended from the Grinch who Stole Christmas, IMHO. I say the more the freakin' merrier and I hereby volunteer to come to the rescue of any other Grinch local to me who needs columbine relief.

Our local gardening guru has warned us never to plant columbine. She says it will come up so much you'll regret it forever.

I would love to have some seeds from this, if anyone
has any available. I love Columbine and I love the color
of this one. I noticed that it was grown around my area
and hope it does ok for me.

This is the first columbine I ever planted several years ago. It has never let me down. It blooms more prolifically that any of the others I have. I've shared the seeds with many people and they are so easy to germinate. I love to broadcast a handful of seeds over different areas of my gardens and then be surprised the next spring when they bloom. I grow them successfully in full sun, partial sun, and in shade; but I will say that they do best in areas of my gardens where the soil is slightly moist and doesn't get baked dry. Occasionally, I have one that is visited by leaf miners -- evidenced by the squiggly lines where they have eaten the chlorophyl from inside the leaves -- but it doesn't seem to affect the blooms.

I planted 3 of these in a new shade garden at the end of the season last year. They were so pretty when they came up this year...but then disaster struck. I don't know what it was, but something ate all 3 down to nothing and I think they are gone for good. It happened so fast that there were only one or two leaves left on the plants when I saw it. Would love some info about pests that make a little squiggly line like a worm through the leaves and then gobble the plant to nothing.

I got this from Tabasco as a mature flowering plant and it transplanted perfectly.
Never wilted and never dropped a blossom.

OK it's really more Purple than Blue in most light but still....
Unless there's a "Winky Purple and White" I'll place it here.

A marvelous little Columbine.
Just won't stop flowering or forming seed pods.
I can't see where this wouldn't make a perfect edging plant or for that matter a perfect Container plant.

San Antonio, Tx.
I rated this columbine "Neutral" because I have not grown it myself. It is a very uniform, compact form of columbine that is very erect. The single blooms face upward and it supposedly will continue to produce blooms well after the first set. It is a suitable plant to grow in containers and in the border. It makes a nice patio plant.