27 March 2011

Tale of Two Columbines



Columbines are gorgeous flowers, aren't they? This fabulous specimen of wild red columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) appeared randomly this year in the back yard and is putting on quite a show, despite the drought. Well, I say "randomly," but the P.O.s left a couple of plants of A. canadensis in the front yard. It's random, because I would have never expected it to show up in the back on its own accord. Plants get around, I guess.

The columbine that we planted is the yellow columbine Aquilegia chrysantha var. hinckleyana.



It too is very beautiful, but in my opinion, the red rocketship glory of the red columbine is pretty hard to beat. This yellow columbine variety is pretty popular, but apparently is native only to a waterfall in far west Texas. The red columbine, on the other hand, is much more common all over the eastern U.S.

2 comments:

Roberta said...

I've only just discovered that columbine grow in Central Texas. I always thought they were a high altitude flower. I think of The Rockies or Aspen. They are beautiful.

Mamaholt said...

You can just tell that red one is a slut.