Aquilegia flabellata (Fan-Leaved Columbine)

Aquilegia flabellata (Fan-Leaved Columbine) is a vigorous perennial boasting nodding, lilac blue flowers, 1.5 in. long (4 cm), with creamy-white petal tips and hooked spurs. The flowers rise above the lovely foliage mound of rounded, finely divided, glaucous green leaves. The foliage remains handsome throughout summer, provided the soil is kept moist. Blooming in late spring to early summer, this perennial will self-seed in the landscape in satisfactory growing conditions.

• Recipient of the prestigious Award of Garden Merit of the Royal Horticultural Society.
• Grows in a bushy, upright clump, up to 8-18 in. tall (20-45 cm) and 8-12 in. wide (20-30 cm).
• Performs best in part shade, in fertile, moist, but well-drained soils. Intolerant of dry soils.
• Attracts hummingbirds and butterflies, but is ignored by rabbits and deer!
• Easy to grow, this plant is a welcomed addition to beds and borders, cottage gardens or naturalized areas.
• Subject to fungal diseases, borers, leaf miners, and aphids.
• Remove faded flower stems to prevent self-seeding.
• Propagate by seed, sown in containers in a cold frame as soon as ripe.
• Native to China, Japan and Russia.

Aquilegia is a genus of clump-forming, short-lived perennials noted for their late spring to midsummer blooms of single or double, short-spurred or spurless flowers, in a variety of colors ranging from blue to violet to white to pink to red. A classic element of herbaceous borders, Columbines mix beautifully with peonies, irises, alliums and roses.