Aquilegia skinneri (Mexican Columbine)

Very floriferous, Aquilegia skinneri (Mexican Columbine) is a herbaceous perennial boasting nodding, brilliant greenish yellow flowers with yellow skirts and long, bright red spurs. The flowers rise above the lovely foliage mound of finely divided, blue-green leaves. The foliage remains handsome throughout summer, provided the soil is kept moist. Blooming in late spring and most of the summer, this perennial will self-seed in the landscape satisfactory growing conditions.

• Grows in a bushy, upright clump, up to 18-36 in. tall (45-90 cm) and 12-18 in. wide (30-45 cm).
• Performs best in full sun to light shade in moist, but well-drained soils.
• Attracts bees and butterflies, but is ignored by rabbits and deer!
• Easy to grow, this plant is a welcomed addition to beds and borders, city gardens, cottage gardens or containers.
• Subject to fungal diseases, borers, leaf miners, and aphids.
• Deadheading can promote new blooms.
• Propagate by seed or by division in spring.
• Native to Mexico.

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.