Columbines are as delightful to find along a wilderness path as they are featured in a garden.

Yes, Columbine! The choice is she; / And with her, see, / An elfin piper, piping sweet, / A little tune for those light feet / That dance among the leaves and flowers / In someone's garden. / (Is it ours?) Mary Cicely Barker

History

The columbine is a contradiction. The blossom is considered both the flower of cuckoldry and a symbol of the doctrine of the holy dove. Its folk name is ‘granny’s bonnet.’ These attributes seem to have little in common. However, Dianne Wells brings it all together under this fascinating analogy.

But maybe the name is not so odd after all. For old women bobbing and trembling, have memories under those bonnets: they might well have known the excitement or agony of cuckoldry...they have been mothers who saw the lives of their sons given to mysterious idealism,...they may have buried babies, and hoped for rebirth. The columbine bonnets, maybe, could represent it all. (Wells, 45)

The botanical name aquilegia is Latin for eagle and references the spurs of the blossom, which resemble long eagle’s talons. Spurs are often used to symbolize cuckoldry and disloyalty.

The common name columbine comes from the Latin word columba, which means dove. When the blossom is flipped over, some people see a ring of doves drinking at a fountain.

Columbine were often used symbolically in art. In religious art, it was used as a symbol of the dove of peace or the Holy Spirit. Consequently, it was often used in garden paintings or tapestries meant to represent Eden.

Description

The leaves are compound leaves approximately 4-6 inches long. They have long stalks, which end in the light green 3-lobed leaflets.

The flowers are 1-2 inches long and hang face down with long spurs above.

Culture

Columbines grow easily in any fertile soil as long as there is good drainage. They do equally well in full sun or partial shade.

The only insect that is particularly fond of columbine are leaf-miners who tunnel about the leaves produce random trace patterns across them but they do not harm the plant.

Columbine can be found wild in both Europe and in North America. There are also domesticated and hybrid varieties in a wide range of sizes and colors.

Uses

The long life of the blossom makes them a great feature plant in the perennial bed and a wonderful choice as a cut flower.

Sources

Nierring and Olmstead. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Eastern Region. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. 1993

Treasury of Gardening. Publications International, Ltd. 2001

Wells, Diana. 100 Flowers and How They Got Their Names. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1997