AQUILEGIA

Aquilegia’s bell-shaped flowers are popular with hummingbirds, bees and gardeners. Most varieties of aquilegia will bloom for at least 4 weeks. They are tougher plants than they appear, but they tend to be short-lived perennials. However they will seed and spread, remaining in your garden for years.  Aqulegia plants have an airy appearance, with small, rounded leaves and tall flower stalks that hold the blooms above the foliage.  You can use aquilegia in containers, but they’ll need regular watering.

Aquilegia is adaptable, but it prefers an acidic soil pH of about 5.0 to 6.0.   Water well and mulch. New plants will need to be kept moist, until they become established. You’ll know when they start putting out a lot of new growth. Even then, keep your aquilegia plants well water during dry spells. Columbnie plants can handle full sun. It’s the combination of heat and dry soil they don’t like and mulching will help alleviate that.