Aquilegia canadensis Eastern Red Columbine Seed & Plants
(ack-wih-LEE-gee-uh  can-uh-DEN-sis)
Easyliving Native Perennial Wildflowers
Native Wild Flower Seeds & Plants for Home Landscaping and Prairie Restoration

Photos by cj      

 For other flowers visit the wildflower seed list , to order copy the orderform or 
email questions, comments, and orders to john@easywildflowers.com

Aquilegia canadensis Red Columbine plants are available, $4.00 each plus UPS shipping.
Red Columbine plants are shipped on Monday/Tuesday by UPS.  Shipping costs are determined by your zip code & the weight of your order.  Please contact us by email for shipping charges on Columbine & other potted plants.

Aquilegia canadensis, Eastern Red Columbine, is a charming plant with attractive foliage and showy flowers that appeal to hummingbirds and butterflies.  This plant grows up to 3 feet tall harboring blue-green leaves growing at the plants base and along the stems.  The unique shape and color of Red Columbine flowers are created by 5 petals hanging from a stem in a bell-like fashion.  To provide elegant contrast, 5 leaf-like yellow sepals are appended to the red petals. Plant Eastern columbine in average, well drained soil in full sun to medium shade in a hummingbird or butterfly garden.

Native wild Aquilegia canadensis Red columbine seed germination is improved after a pretreatment of 3 to 4 weeks cold moist stratification or when planted outside in the fall or winter.

This delightful flowers of wild Eastern Red Columbine bloom in April, May, June, and July on rock ledges, along rocky slopes in woods, in ravines, and along bluffs from Nova Scotia to Saskatchewan, south to Florida and Texas.  Ranunculaceae (Crowfoot Family)

Plant native wild Columbine with other native woodland wildflowers like  Green Dragon  American Spikenard  Jack-in-the-pulpit  Goat's Beard  Wild Ginger  Wild Geranium  Virginia Bluebells  Woodland Phlox  Jacob's Ladder  Bloodroot  Celandine Poppy   Woodland Spiderwort  Purple Trillium   White Trillium  Blue Cohosh  Black Cohosh  Shooting Star  Ginseng    Christmas Fern   Dutchman's Breeches 

Alternate Names

Wild columbine, wild honeysuckle, meeting-houses, red-bell, Canada columbine, American columbine, rock-lily, jack-in-trousers, cluckies, Aquilegia australis, Aquilegia canadensis var. australis, Aquilegia canadensis var. coccinea, Aquilegia canadensis var. eminens, Aquilegia canadensis var. flaviflora, Aquilegia canadensis var. hybrida, Aquilegia canadensis var. latiuscula, Aquilegia canadensis  var. phippenii, Aquilegia canadensis forma flaviflora, Aquilegia canadensis forma ecalcarata, Aquilegia canadensis forma albiflora, Aquilegia canadensis forma phippenii, Aquilegia coccinea, Aquilegia elegans, Aquilegia eminens, Aquilegia flaviflora, Aquilegia latiuscula, Aquilegia phoenicantha and Aquilegia variegata.

 Seeds from this plant have been used to treat ailments such as headaches, sore throats, stomatitis, heart problems, skin rash or itch caused by poison ivy, kidney and urinary problems, and fever.  They have also been used for ceremonial medicines, perfume, and as additives to tobacco.  Roots of this plant can be used to treat gastrointestinal ailments.

 Red columbine is a popular garden perennial because it is hardy, lives approximately 3 to 5 years, and can readily regenerate by seed.  It is also useful for woodland and meadow plantings.

 Red columbine is pollinated by hummingbirds, which may depend on the plant as an important nectar source.  In addition, at least four bee species have been found to be effective pollinators of red columbine in southeastern Wisconsin and northwards.

 Buttercup Family (Ranunculaceae).  Red columbine is a perennial herb that has short-lived fibrous roots and a vertical underground stem (caudex).  It is 30-80 cm (12-30 in) tall, growing from the caudex.  Compound leaves are distinctly divided into obovate leaflets.  The flower is downward facing, with all petals prolonged backward into a tubular spur.  Sepals are petal-like and typically red.  Petals are yellow and become redder at the tip of the spur.  Plant growth begins in early spring.  This plant blooms from March to July and sets fruit in mid to late summer (June to August).  Aboveground portions of Red columbine die back to the caudex in mid to late autumn.

  Red Columbine is native to eastern and central North America and is found from Nova Scotia to Saskatchewan, south to northern Florida, western Oklahoma and eastern Texas.  For current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page for this species on the PLANTS Web site (http://plants.usda.gov).

  Red columbine is found in dry to mesic or even low woods, especially along borders or clearings of oak-hickory, oak-maple and maple-basswood forests, black-oak savannas, cedar glades, pine woods, and mixed conifer hardwood forests.  It can also be found on wooded to open rocky hillsides, bluffs, calcareous cliffs, outcrops, ledges, banks, beach ridges, gravelly shorelines, roadsides, quarries, and peat bogs.

 Red columbine grows in thin soils over granitic bedrock, steep hillsides of thin loess over limestone or quartzite bedrock, and on gravelly glacial marine soils.  Red columbine populations can occur in a wide range of habitats from rich woods to rocky cliffs.

 This hardy eastern perennial is propagated by seed.  Seed is mature and ready for collection when it turns black in the follicles.  Collected seed should be stored in seedbags at temperatures of 5^o to 6^oC (~41^oF) and can be stored up to 4 months.  A 3 to 4 week period of moist stratification at 5^oC may speed up germination time but does not increase germination rate. 

 Aquilegia canadensis seeds should be hand-sown into germination trays in greenhouse temperatures of 21^o to 24^oC (70^o to 75^oF).  Germination will take place within 3 to 4 weeks, and supplemental lighting is not necessary.  Soil in the germination trays must be kept evenly moist during germination.  Fertilization may damage the foliage, so avoid application while in germination trays.

 Seedlings can be transplanted into plug cells following a 3-4 week period of root development.  Plugs will need to be cut back to allow for air circulation over the media surface.  Approximately 2 weeks prior to outplanting, plants should be exposed to lower greenhouse, or frost-free outdoor, temperatures. 

 Although red columbine prefers soils that are well drained, loose, and slightly acidic, it will grow in medium that is loose and has a mixture of organic matter.  It will not bloom during the first growing season.

 Germination procedures can begin in August and as late as November.  Outplanting should take place in the spring (April).  Red columbine can also be direct-seeded at a planting site in the fall or early spring.  The general recommendation for wildflower seeding is 11 pounds per acre.

 Columbine species are little bothered by powdery mildew or broad mites.  The waxy nature of the leaves sheds water-based pesticides.  Red columbine is unpalatable to livestock but is sometimes browsed by deer.  Red columbine can survive fire disturbance.  Recolonization begins when the underground caudex resprouts following disturbance.  Population growth continues by seed. 

 The map below shows areas where wild Aquilegia canadensis Columbine plants grow wild but it can be planted and will grow over a much wider area than shown.  
USDA plant hardiness zones 2 to 9.

Use the chart below for shipping charges on Red Columbine flower seeds, to order copy the order form or email questions, comments & orders to john

please contact us by email for shipping charges on aquilegia Columbine potted plants

The minimum seed order amount is $10, this can be a combination of different seeds.

We accept payment by check or money order and through the paypal website

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Easyliving Wildflowers
PO Box  522
Willow Springs,  Mo.  65793
phone-fax 417-469-2611 
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Aquilegia canadensis Red Columbine Plant distribution map complements of USDA, NRCS. 2001. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.1
  (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.