April showers bring May flowers indeed. A few years ago, we had a handful of Columbines. This year there are dozens of plants; all are different colors and flower shapes. Columbines are a good fit for our wild-ish yard. My goal for this year is to plant Washington’s native Columbines, the Western Red Columbine, Aquilegia formosa and Aquilegia flavescens, in our gardens along the street (which is definitely wild).

My understanding is that Columbines hybridize, so I’ll have an ongoing project. But for today, I’m enjoying the flowers. Columbines are mostly disease and pest-free and drought-tolerant. Something is eating the leaves off a few Columbines but not the flowers, but I have so many plants that there are enough to share.

In 2022, I started the Kiragami Columbines pictured below from seed. They were pretty unremarkable; I don’t think they got above six inches last year. But this year! Wow. Very showy and worth the wait.

Happy Spring!