Eastern Red Columbine: The Most Popular Columbine Variety
Columbine flowers, belonging to the genus Aquilegia, are elegant perennials in the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae). Known for their distinctive spurred petals and sepals, they produce intricate, often nodding or upright blooms in a wide array of colors including blue, red, yellow, white, and purple. Most species feature delicate, clover-like divided foliage that adds fine texture to gardens.
Native to many temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, columbines are found across North America, Europe, and Asia. There are over 70 species, ranging from alpine dwarfs to taller woodland types. They have been cultivated for centuries and are popular in both wildflower meadows and formal gardens.
Columbines typically bloom in spring to early summer. Their unique flower structure, with long nectar spurs, makes them highly attractive to hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies. Many varieties self-seed readily, creating natural drifts over time with minimal intervention.
These plants generally prefer partial shade and well-drained, moist soil, though some species tolerate full sun or drier conditions. They are relatively low-maintenance but can be short-lived, often best treated as biennials or allowed to reseed. Columbines work beautifully in borders, rock gardens, woodland edges, and containers.
Blue Columbine
Varieties of Columbine Flower
Common Columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris)
The quintessential European columbine, cultivated in gardens for hundreds of years. It produces nodding, bonnet-shaped flowers in shades of purple, blue, pink, and white, with characteristic inward-hooking spurs. Highly adaptable and a prolific self-seeder, it naturalises beautifully in cottage and woodland gardens.
Eastern Red Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
A native of eastern North America, this species is instantly recognisable by its vivid red-and-yellow bicoloured flowers and long, upright spurs. It thrives on rocky slopes and in open woodlands, and its nectar-rich blooms are a magnet for hummingbirds and long-tongued bumblebees throughout spring.
Colorado Blue Columbine (Aquilegia caerulea)
The official state flower of Colorado, this magnificent species bears large, airy blooms with sky-blue to lavender sepals and pure white inner petals. It grows naturally in subalpine meadows and rocky clearings, favouring cool temperatures, and is one of the most widely admired wildflowers in the Rocky Mountains.
Golden Columbine (Aquilegia chrysantha)
Native to the desert mountains of the American Southwest, this sun-loving species produces bright, cheerful yellow flowers with exceptionally long, slender spurs that can reach up to 6 cm. Unlike most columbines, it tolerates summer heat and drought with relative ease and tends to bloom over a longer season.
Western Columbine (Aquilegia formosa)
Widespread across the Pacific coastal ranges and western mountain regions of North America, this species closely resembles A. canadensis with its nodding red-and-yellow flowers. It plays an ecologically vital role as a nectar source for rufous hummingbirds and various native pollinators during their spring migrations.
Alpine Columbine (Aquilegia alpina)
A compact and hardy species endemic to the European Alps, where it grows in rocky meadows and scree slopes at considerable elevation. Its large, rich blue to violet flowers with short curved spurs are disproportionately showy for its modest size, making it a prized plant in alpine and rock garden settings.
Fan Columbine (Aquilegia flabellata)
A charming, low-growing species from Japan and Korea, prized for its unusually thick, glaucous blue-green foliage and plump, rounded flowers in soft lilac-purple or white. The dwarf cultivar ‘Nana’ is especially popular in rock gardens and container plantings for its neat, compact habit.
Siberian Columbine (Aquilegia sibirica)
Hailing from the cold steppes and open woodlands of Siberia and central Asia, this robust species produces medium-sized flowers in shades of pale blue, violet, and white. It is exceptionally frost-hardy and well suited to gardens in cold northern climates where other columbines might struggle.
Dark Columbine (Aquilegia atrata)
A striking central European species distinguished by its deep, dusky violet to almost blackish-purple flowers, which give it an air of quiet drama in the garden. It is native to subalpine woodlands and meadows and pairs beautifully with pale-coloured companions in ornamental plantings.
Yellow Columbine (Aquilegia flavescens)
A delicate native of the Rocky Mountain ranges of western North America, producing soft, pale yellow to cream-coloured flowers on slender stems. It favours moist subalpine meadows and forest clearings and is an important food source for native bees and hummingbirds in higher elevations.
Long-Spurred Columbine (Aquilegia longissima)
Native to the Chihuahuan Desert region of Texas and northern Mexico, this species is remarkable for its extraordinarily elongated, thread-like spurs that can extend up to 15 cm — the longest of any columbine species. The pale yellow flowers are pollinated almost exclusively by hawk moths, whose long proboscises match the spur length perfectly.
McKana’s Giants Columbine (Aquilegia × hybrida ‘McKana’s Giants’)
One of the most popular hybrid columbines ever developed, this group produces exceptionally large, long-spurred flowers in a dazzling range of bicolour combinations including red and yellow, blue and white, and pink and cream. Vigorous and free-flowering, it became an iconic feature of mid-20th-century cottage gardens.
Barlow Columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris var. stellata ‘Nora Barlow’)
A distinctive cultivar derived from the common columbine, prized for its fully double, pom-pom-like flowers that resemble small dahlias or ranunculus. The blooms are a soft mixture of pink, green, and cream, and because the petals are so densely multiplied, the characteristic spurs have been entirely lost.
Swan Series Columbine (Aquilegia ‘Swan White’)
Part of an elegant cultivar series bred for exceptionally pure, clean colouring and a refined, upright habit. The white Swan variety produces pristine, large-flowered blooms with a graceful poise, while other members of the series include soft peach, burgundy, and blue-and-white bicolour forms.
Songbird Series Columbine (Aquilegia ‘Songbird Blue’)
A widely grown modern hybrid series developed for compact growth, large flowers, and long bloom times. The Songbird Blue selection features deep blue-and-white flowers with robust spurs, while siblings in the series include cardinal red, dove white, and rose-and-white combinations, all beloved in border plantings.
Winky Series Columbine (Aquilegia ‘Winky Double Red-White’)
An innovative series bred for an upward-facing flower habit unusual among columbines, which traditionally nod downward. The double-flowered Winky types also feature no spurs, giving them a fluffy, informal appearance. They come in a wide range of colour combinations and are compact enough for container gardening.
Dragonfly Columbine (Aquilegia ‘Dragonfly’)
A compact hybrid columbine producing large, long-spurred flowers in a cheerful mixture of yellow, red, blue, and bicolour combinations. Reaching only about 45 cm tall, it is ideally suited to the front of a border or to raised bed planting, and it blooms prolifically over a generous spring season.
Black Barlow Columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris ‘Black Barlow’)
A dramatic cultivar of the Barlow group, this variety produces densely double, spurless flowers in a deep, near-black purple. The rich, dark blooms create a stunning contrast when planted alongside pale or silver-foliaged companions, and they hold their colour well throughout the flowering season without fading significantly.
Crimson Star Columbine (Aquilegia ‘Crimson Star’)
A bold and vigorous hybrid with striking bicoloured flowers featuring bright crimson-red sepals contrasting sharply with pure white inner petals. The long spurs are also red, adding to the visual impact. It is a reliable garden performer and a particularly strong attractor of hummingbirds.
Blue Star Columbine (Aquilegia ‘Blue Star’)
A popular hybrid columbine with attractive bicoloured blooms of clear blue sepals and creamy white petals, creating a cool, fresh effect in the border. It grows to a medium height, self-seeds readily, and is frequently used in cottage garden planting schemes alongside roses and hardy geraniums.
Origami Series Columbine (Aquilegia ‘Origami Blue and White’)
A relatively recent hybrid series developed for exceptional performance, featuring long spurs, large flowers, and a wide range of vivid colour combinations. The Origami varieties are also notable for coming reliably true from seed, which is unusual in hybrid columbines, making them a favourite among commercial growers.
Munstead White Columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris ‘Munstead White’)
A historic cultivar associated with the influential English garden designer Gertrude Jekyll and her famous garden at Munstead Wood. It produces elegant, pure white flowers and is revered for its simplicity and ease of cultivation. It remains a cornerstone plant in traditional English cottage garden design.
Rocky Mountain Columbine (Aquilegia saximontana)
A tiny, high-alpine species found exclusively in the Front Range of the Colorado Rockies at very high elevations. Despite its miniature stature, rarely exceeding 15 cm, it produces proportionally large blue-and-white flowers that are enchanting in their detail and are perfectly suited to trough or alpine garden cultivation.
Claret Cup Columbine (Aquilegia ‘Claret’)
A handsome cultivar grown for its rich wine-red to deep claret-coloured flowers, which have a velvety depth of colour rarely found in other columbine varieties. The blooms are held on sturdy stems above attractive divided foliage and make excellent cut flowers as well as a dramatic border plant.
Bertoloni’s Columbine (Aquilegia bertolonii)
A small, delicate species native to rocky limestone outcrops in the mountains of southern France and northwestern Italy. It bears clear blue-violet flowers with short, strongly hooked spurs and is well adapted to dry, alkaline soils. It is a refined choice for the specialist rock garden or scree bed.
Vulgaris Rose Barlow Columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris ‘Rose Barlow’)
A member of the celebrated Barlow series, this cultivar features fully double, spurless flowers in a warm, dusky rose-pink softened with flecks of cream. Like all Barlows, the petals form a tightly clustered pompom, and the plant is a reliable self-seeder that maintains its distinctive double character over successive generations.
Magpie Columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris ‘William Guinness’)
Also widely known by the cultivar name ‘Magpie’, this dramatic variety produces flowers of deep blackish-purple with contrasting white petal tips, mimicking the bold colouring of its namesake bird. It is one of the most visually striking dark columbine cultivars and creates a powerful focal point in any planting.
Glandular Columbine (Aquilegia glandulosa)
A rare and beautiful species native to the mountain meadows of Siberia and central Asia, producing large, rich blue flowers with white petal tips and very short, slightly curved spurs. It is less commonly grown than many columbines but highly prized by collectors for its unusual combination of colours and its alpine character.
Skinner’s Columbine (Aquilegia skinneri)
A colourful species from the mountain forests of Mexico and Guatemala, producing vivid bicoloured flowers in combinations of orange-red and yellow-green. The long, straight, horizontally projecting spurs give it a distinctive architectural quality, and it is one of the key ancestral species from which many modern long-spurred hybrids were developed.
European Crowfoot Columbine (Aquilegia einseleana)
A modest but charming columbine native to the eastern Alps, producing small, violet-blue flowers with distinctly curved spurs on slender, wiry stems. It inhabits rocky limestone slopes and woodland margins and is best appreciated up close, where the detail of its delicate structure can be fully admired in a rock or gravel garden setting.
Haenke’s Columbine (Aquilegia haenkeana)
Endemic to the Tatra Mountains on the Polish-Slovak border, this rare species is closely related to A. alpina but bears slightly smaller, intensely blue flowers. It is considered a threatened species in the wild and is occasionally grown by specialist alpine gardeners who appreciate its botanical rarity and quiet beauty.
Jonesii Columbine (Aquilegia jonesii)
One of the smallest columbines in the world, native to limestone outcrops in Wyoming, Montana, and Alberta. Its flowers are a rich blue-violet and appear disproportionately large relative to the tiny rosette of leaves, which rarely exceeds a few centimetres across. It is notoriously difficult to cultivate outside its native habitat.
Laramiensis Columbine (Aquilegia laramiensis)
A rare, pale-flowered columbine endemic to the Laramie Mountains of Wyoming, producing delicate creamy white to very pale lavender blooms. It inhabits exposed rocky ridges and gravelly soils at high elevation and is one of several geographically restricted columbine species found in the isolated mountain ranges of the American West.
Thalictrifolia Columbine (Aquilegia thalictrifolia)
An unusual miniature species from the limestone cliffs of northeastern Italy and Slovenia, notable for its finely divided, meadow-rue-like foliage from which its name derives. The small blue-violet flowers are charming rather than showy, and the plant has a botanical curiosity that makes it a coveted specimen for serious rock gardeners.
Pubescens Columbine (Aquilegia pubescens)
A high-altitude Sierra Nevada species found near and above the tree line in California and Nevada, producing creamy white to pale yellow flowers often flushed with pink or lavender. It is a key nocturnal pollinator plant, particularly attractive to hawk moths, which are drawn to its pale colouring and subtle fragrance at dusk.
Elegant Columbine (Aquilegia elegantula)
A slender, graceful species from the Rocky Mountains and adjacent ranges of the American Southwest, producing small, nodding red-and-yellow flowers remarkably similar to A. formosa. It favours moist, shaded ravines and stream banks and is an important nectar resource for broad-tailed and rufous hummingbirds during their summer breeding season.
Chapline’s Columbine (Aquilegia chaplineana)
A seldom-seen, localised species from the Guadalupe Mountains of New Mexico and Texas, closely related to A. chrysantha but producing slightly smaller yellow flowers. It grows in sheltered canyon habitats and moist limestone seeps, and because of its very limited range, it is considered a plant of conservation concern in the United States.
Viridiflora Columbine (Aquilegia viridiflora)
A highly unusual columbine from Siberia and northern China, notable for its small, brownish-green to chocolate-coloured flowers — a colouring quite unlike any other species in the genus. Though not conventionally showy, its flowers emit a sweet, vanilla-like fragrance that more than compensates for their subdued appearance, especially on warm evenings.
Micrantha Columbine (Aquilegia micrantha)
A delicate, small-flowered species native to the canyon lands of the Colorado Plateau in Utah and Arizona, where it grows in moist, shaded alcoves and seeping cliff faces. The flowers are pale lavender to almost white and are held on wiry stems that emerge from rosettes anchored in rock crevices, giving the plant a uniquely ethereal quality.
Shockley’s Columbine (Aquilegia shockleyi)
A rare desert columbine found in the arid mountain ranges of southeastern California and southern Nevada, producing red-and-yellow flowers adapted to dry, rocky desert habitats. It is one of the few columbines naturally adapted to desert conditions, relying on brief seasonal moisture and cool canyon microclimates to complete its life cycle.