What do a damp forest edge, a dry meadow, and a crack in a retaining wall all have in common? Answer: They are all perfectly suitable habitats to host the delicate and anomalous beauty of red columbine (Aquilegia canadensis), the only columbine species native to the Eastern United States. This versatile spring wildflower can be found in bloom from late April through early June across several varied plant communities within the Native Flora Garden.
Columbine flowers get their unique “jester’s hat” look from slender petals that continue into narrow nectar spurs, which, in red columbine, are 13 to 25 millimeters long. These spurs contain vital nectar for specialist pollinators with long mouthparts including long-tongued bumblebees and the ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris).
In the Northeast, the flowers of red columbine open in synchrony with the spring arrival of these hummingbirds from their wintering sites in Central America and Mexico. Although purplish-blue–flowering European columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris) is also grown at BBG, native red columbine is superior for supporting hummingbirds in particular, as its crimson flowers are more visible to birds and its nectar has a higher sugar content.
Even generalist pollinators with short mouthparts may benefit from the flowers’ nectar, as short-tongued bumblebees have been known to puncture the spur with their mandibles, creating an opening for smaller bees to also take advantage of a previously inaccessible nectar opportunity. Red columbine also supports native pollinators by serving as a larval host plant for the columbine duskywing (Erynnis lucilius), and by providing a source of crucial pollen for queen bumblebees provisioning their nests.
Agreeable to both alkaline and acidic soil, partial shade and full blazing sun, red columbine persists in both the bitter cold of USDA Hardiness Zone 3 and the humid subtropical climate of the Florida Panhandle. However, in the garden, it is generally happiest growing in part shade for the afternoon and in moist but well-draining low-nutrient soil. These conditions will give an individual plant its best chance at maxing out its full short-lived perennial lifespan of three to five years.
Counterintuitively, overly fertile soils may cause these plants to live fast and die younger. Even then, red columbine is known for its ability to naturalize in a space despite its short lifespan by freely self-seeding, maintaining its presence over generations. It makes a beautiful partner to fine-leaved native sedges like Appalachian sedge (Carex appalachica) or Pennsylvania sedge (Carex pensylvanica)—also host plants for lepidopteran larvae—whose slender, grasslike foliage complements columbine’s cloverlike leaves and tall flower stalks.
