Volume 30 Issue 2, Spring 2025
by Kim Strader and Sheila Ferguson
If you like hummingbirds and want them to visit your yard, plant Eastern Red Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis). It starts blooming in April when the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are arriving from Mexico and continues to bloom through May and sometimes into June. The showy flowers also attract bees, butterflies, and hawk moths. It is also the host plant for the Columbine Duskywing butterfly and a small leaf-mining moth that causes minor damage to its foliage.
The showy flowers of Aquilegia canadensis are favorites of many pollinators, including hummingbirds. Photo by Sue Dingwell
Columbine is found throughout the eastern half of the United States and grows in dry, rocky woodlands as well as moist, well-drained forests. Its bell-shaped red and yellow flowers are approximately 1.5 inches in length. The genus name comes from the Latin aquila, which means “eagle,” and refers to the spurred petals that are said to resemble an eagle’s talons. Usually 1-2 feet in height, the plant can reach 3 feet and has attractive, delicate-looking foliage. Columbine does best in partial shade to filtered sun and in well-drained soils.
Although columbine is a short-lived perennial, lasting just three to five years, it readily self-sows. So while it may disappear from one location in your garden, you should see it popping up elsewhere nearby. Some gardeners think that is part of its charm.
There are several columbine species native to North America, along with European Columbine (Aquilegia vulgaris) and cultivars that are available in nurseries. If you want to help pollinators, plant the Virginia native species: Aquilegia canadensis. Columbines are known to readily hybridize through cross-pollination. When other species and cultivars are present, the resulting plants will differ in flower color, spur-petal length, and leaf thickness, affecting the suitability of use to our native pollinators.
Kim Strader is the former assistant curator of the Native Plant Trail at the State Arboretum of Virginia at Blandy Experimental Farm.
Sheila Ferguson serves on the Steering Committee for Plant NOVA Natives.