Aquilegia caerulea - Columbine

Aquilegia caerulea is a simple columbine, but it is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful. Native to the Rocky Mountains of the USA, it displays a rustic character and an upright and bushy habit. For several weeks starting in spring, it offers bright flowers, ranging from light blue to deep blue, sometimes bicoloured, with an inner corolla of white petals around a golden stamen heart. A short-lived perennial, it easily self-seeds and is easy to grow in any well-drained but moist soil.

The Blue Columbine is a perennial plant of the Ranunculaceae family, native to North America and the emblem of the State of Colorado. It grows specifically in the mountainous areas of southern Montana to New Mexico and western Idaho and Arizona, from east to west. This herbaceous plant has an upright and straight habit. It measures from 20 to 60 cm (7.9 to 23.6 in) tall. In late spring and early summer, large pendulous flowers appear, measuring 6 to 10 cm (2.4 to 3.9 in) in diameter, carried by branching peduncles. They are equipped with long, horny spurs. Often bicoloured, they combine white and deep lavender blue. Sometimes a few late-blooming plants can be observed in autumn. The deciduous bluish-green foliage is quite decorative, and the cut of the basal leaves gives the plant a sense of lightness. Flowering reaches its peak after 2 or 3 years of growth. This plant does not live very long but it easily self-seeds in the garden.

Columbines were already cultivated in the Middle Ages, and cottage gardens have kept this tradition alive. Compact and discreet, they are essential in mixed borders where they will bring lightness and whimsy. They can be planted in many different areas of the garden, taking care to leave a space of 30 cm (11.8 in) around each plant: in the middle of a perennial bed, in a border, at the base of bushes, on the edge of a woodland, or on a slope. The Blue Columbine is magnificent in cool rockeries. Do not hesitate to pick them when they are barely open to make beautiful bouquets. In flower beds with a 'cottage garden' theme, they can be combined with all kinds of perennials, such as Foxgloves, Bleeding Hearts, or Peach-leaved Bellflowers.