Natural History

• Blue columbines are common in alpine and subalpine habitats.columbine -blue image by Michelle Driscoll from Fotolia.com
  
  Rook.org refers to the wild columbine as "an old-fashioned garden plant, cultivated in Europe and American since the mid-1600s," but columbine has grown wild for at least the last 10,000 years when its genus Aquilegia traveled from current-day Siberia to Alaska. According to the U.S. Forest Service, DNA evidence supports the theory that the genus Aquilegia originated in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Two European species and one Asian species evolved into all Aquilegia species known today.
  
  

Pollinators

• Red columbine are pollinated by humminbirds.columbine image by Andrew Orlemann from Fotolia.com
  
  The different shapes and colors of the Aquilegia genus are a response to the different pollinators available at different elevations -- hawk moths and hummingbirds, in particular. Bees and bumblebees pollinated the deep-blue flowered columbines common to the Rocky Mountains: deep blue columbines all occur in alpine and subalpine habitats in northern latitudes where hawk moths and hummingbirds do not commonly occur. Once the genus expanded to lower latitudes where hawk moths and hummingbirds---both with very long proboscises for extracting nectar---are common, different shapes and colors began to appear. Yellow and red columbines are a result of this evolutionary relationship, and hummingbirds continue to rely on columbines as an important nectar source.
  
  

Lore

• American Indians are reported to have used a paste made form crushed columbine seeds and/or dried flowers as a love potion. Similarly, although a continent away, the columbine, because of its latin root, "Columba" (dove), is reported to have been the symbol of Venus, the goddess of love. It also became a symbol of the Holy Spirit in medieval Europe. Medieval medicine included powdered dried flowers brewed as a tincture and used as an antitoxin.
  
  

The State Flower of Colorado

• In 1891 Colorado schoolchildren voted the Colorado blue columbine (Aquilegia caerules) the state flower of Colorado and it was adopted by the state legislature in 1899, thanks to the efforts of the Cripple Creek Women's Club in 1899. Colorado law has protected the columbine since 1925, making it illegal to uproot the flower from any public property. Picking wildflowers is illegal today in any National Parks Services area.
  
  

Growing Columbines

• Grow columbines from seed in your home garden, especially if you are striving for the cottage-garden look. Columbines grow up to 3 feet tall, but the size of the flowers varies depending on the species. Planting different species near each other will result in a hybridized version, but if you plant different species far from each other, new columbines will resemble their parents. Columbines are a perennial and will reseed themselves but will have to be replaced every three to five years.