Aquilegia, also known as granny’s bonnet, is a genus of perennials native to the meadows and woodlands of the Northern Hemisphere. It is a member of the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae, that also includes anemone, hellebores, and bugbane. Growing 4″ to 5′ tall, plants form erect clumps of basal foliage and have slender, branching leafy stem. The ferny leaves are carried on long petioles, and are pinnately compound 1-3 times usually with 3-lobed leaflets. Flowers may be white, yellow, red, blue or combinations. They are erect or nodding, and usually have 5 petal-like sepals alternating with 5 true petals surrounding a center of numerous stamens. The petals have a broad tube in front and a projecting spur behind with spur length varying with the species. Columbines tend to thrive in part shade and in fertile, moist, well-drained soil, but tolerate less. They are generally short-lived and prone to disfigurement by leaf miners. Many attract pollinators.
The genus name, Aquilegia, comes from the Latin word aquila meaning eagle in reference to the resemblance of the spurs to the talons of an eagle.
Photo Credit: Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz , Wikimedia Commons
The environmental conditions in the Rocky Mountain area have resulted in at least 14 species of native columbine there but they may be native to other places too. All the columbines described here are native to at least one of the states in the Rocky Mountain area.
Oil Shale Columbine (Aquilegia barnebyi)
The compound leaves have leaflets with rounded lobes and a bluish waxy coating. The flowers are erect or nodding and have wide spread, pale pink sepals and yellow, cream or pink petals with long pink spurs.
Alternate Name/s: Barneby’s columbine
Native Range: Utah and Colorado
Habitat: Exposed oil shale in cliff, talus and rocky slopes, and in pinyon-juniper woodlands
Type: Perennial
Height: 12-31″
Bloom Time: Early to mid summer
Bloom Color: Pink and yellow
Light: Partial shade, full sun
Soil: Fertile, medium moist, well-drained
USDA Hardiness Zone: 4-?
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
Smallflower Columbine (Aquilegia brevistyle)
The compound leaves have wavy-edged leaflets. The small nodding flowers have wide spread, blue to lavender sepals and white to pale yellow petals with blue hooked spurs. The flowers are attractive to butterflies, humming birds and other pollinators.
Alternate Name/s: Blue columbine
Native Range: Montana and Wyoming as well as places in the Midwest
Habitat: Open woods, stream banks, and moist meadows and outcrops, at mid-elevations in the montane zone; often associated with limestone and other calcareous substrates
Type: Perennial
Height: 8-31″
Bloom Time: Early to mid summer
Bloom Color: Blue and white to pale yellow
Light: Part shade
Soil: Average, medium moist, well-drained; tolerates some dryness
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4-warmer (?)
Photo Credit: Mary Schäffer Warren, Wikispecies
Golden Columbine (Aquilegia chrysantha)
The compound leaves have 3 leaflet, each with three lobes. Nodding buds give way to upward looking yellow flowers that are up to 3″ long, wide spread sepals, and long spurs. The flowers are attractive to humming birds, butterflies and bumblebees.
Alternate Name/s: Yellow Columbine, Southwestern Yellow Columbine, canary columbine
Native Range: Utah and Colorado as well as areas in the Southwest
Habitat: Spring seeps and moist places in canyon
Type: Perennial
Height: 6-35″
Bloom Time: Late spring to late summer
Bloom Color: Yellow
Light: Light to moderate shade, tolerates full sun
Soil: Sandy, rocky or loamy, medium moist, well-drained
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3-9
Photo Credit: Stan Shebs, Wikipedia Commons
Colorado Blue Columbine (Aquilegia coerulea)
The fern-like foliage is gray-green and deeply cut. The flowers are erect, 2-3″ wide, and usually have creamy white petals, violet blue, wide-spread sepals, and long blue spurs, but colors vary and all-white forms are known. Humming birds, butterflies, and other pollinators including bumble bees are attracted to the flowers. Plants are short-lived but form colonies, and reseed.
Alternate Name/s: Rocky Mountain Columbine
Native Range: Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Nevada as well as places in the Southwest
Habitat: At elevations from 6000 to 10,000 feet; rocky slopes, near streams, open woodland, sagebrush, pinyon-juniper forests, aspen stands, alpine tundras
Type: Perennial
Height: 12-18″
Bloom Time: Late spring to early summer
Bloom Color: White and violet blue
Light: Shade
Soil: Humusy, consistently moist, well-drained
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3-9
Photo Credit: Rob Duval, Wikimedia Commons
Desert Columbine (Aquilegia desertorum)
The highly dissected compound leaves are have small thick, hairy leaflets that are rounded and toothed. The nodding flowers are carried on slender hairy stems above the rosette of foliage. Each flower has dark red spreading sepals and yellow petals with light red straight spurs.
Alternate Name/s: None generally accepted
Native Range: Utah as well as areas in the Southwest
Habitat: Open rocky places in the deserts, moist mixed conifer mountain slopes at upper elevations
Type: Perennial
Height: 6-12″
Bloom Time: Late spring to mid summer
Bloom Color: Orange and yellow
Light: Sun to part shade
Soil: Sandy or rocky, medium moist to dry, well-drained
USDA Hardiness Zones: 5-8
Photo Credit: Michael Wolf, Wikimedia Commons
Western Red Columbine (Aquilegia elegantula)
The green leaves are divided into three leaflets each of which have rounded lobes along the front edges. The nodding flowers have light to yellow-green or orange petals with bright red spurs, and reddish to yellow sepals held parallel to the petals.
Alternate Name/s: Shooting star columbine
Native Range: Utah, Colorado as well as places in the Southwest
Habitat: Montane and subalpine (6500 to 11800 ft); moist areas in mountain coniferous forests, forest edges and openings, and along streams
Type: Perennial
Height: 4-24″
Bloom Time: Late spring to mid-summer
Bloom Color: Red, yellow-green, orange, yellow
Light: Part shade
Soil: Average, moderately moist, well-drained
USDA Hardiness Zones: 5-8 (?)
Photo Credit: Dave Powell, USDA Forest Service, Wikipedia
Yellow Columbine (Aquilegia flavescens)
The compound leaves are 3-12″ long, 2-3 times lobed, and have hairy undersides. The nodding flowers have wide spread, yellow or pink tinged sepals, and cream colored petals that have yellow spurs with incurved tips. The flowers attract humming birds and other pollinators including bumble bees.
Alternate Name/s: Yellow mountain columbine, golden columbine
Native Range: Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada as well as areas of the Pacific Coast
Habitat: Elevations between 4300 and 11500 ft; moist mountain meadows, open woods, alpine slopes and rock slides
Type: Perennial
Height: 8-28″
Bloom Time: Late spring to early summer
Bloom Color: Cream to yellow sometimes tinged with pink
Light: Part shade
Soil: Average, medium moist, well-drained
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4-8
Photo Credit: Misterbiologist, Wikipedia
Western Columbine (Aquilegia formosa)
This bushy plant has delicate, blue-green, lobed foliage and nodding flowers with wide-spread red sepals straight red spurs, and a center of yellow petals. Flowers are up to 2″ across and attract humming birds while seeds attract birds. Short-lived but self seeds.
Alternate Name/s: Crimson columbine, scarlet columbine, red columbine
Native Range: Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada as well as areas in Alaska and the Pacific Coast.
Habitat: Moist area such as along streambanks in chaparral, oak woodland, mixed-evergreen or coniferous forest, alpine and subalpine meadows at elevations of under 4000-9000 ft.
Height: 6-40″
Bloom Time: Spring to summer
Bloom Color: Yellow and red
Light: Partial shade, full sun
Soil: Humusy, medium moist, well-drained
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3-9
Photo Credit: NorCalHistory, Wikipedia
Graham’s Columbine (Aquilegia grahamii)
The compound leaves are deeply lobed, glandular and sticky, and have serrated margins. The nodding flower have red spreading sepals and yellow petals with straight red spurs. The flowers attract humming birds and other pollinators.
Alternate Name/s: None
Native Range: Endemic to three adjacent canyons in eastern Uintah County, Utah
Habitat: Cracks, crevices or narrow ledges where water is readily available
Type: Perennial
Height: 8-24″
Bloom Time: Late spring to late summer
Bloom Color: Red and yellow
Light: Partial shade, sun
Soil: Sandy, moist, well-drained (?)
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4-7 (?)
Photo Credit: Sherel Goodrich, USFS, wikipedia
Jone’s Columbine (Aquilegia jonesii)
This dwarf columbine forms a small cushion of densely crowded leaves that are deeply clefted and usually covered with a whitish coating. The erect flowers occur singly and have dark blue sepals and lighter blue petals with straight blue spurs. The flowers attract bumble bees. The plants do not transplant well.
Alternate Name/s: Blue limestone columbine
Native Range: Wyoming and Montana
Habitat: Rocky places, screes, crevices in subalpine limestone areas in northern Wyoming, northwest and central Montana, at altitudes from 5,900 to 11,000 feet
Type: Perennial
Height: 3-5″
Bloom Time: Summer
Bloom Color: Blue, purple
Light: Part shade
Soil: Stoney, moist, well-drained, calcareous
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3-7
Photo Credit: Matt Lavin, Wikimedia Commons
Laramie Columbine (Aquilegia laramiensis)
The compound leaves are deeply divided and blue green. The nodding flowers have greenish white or lavender spreading sepals, and cream-colored to lavender petals with lavender hooked spurs. Flowers are attractive to bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.
Alternate Name/s: Laramie granny’s bonnet, Laramie monk’s head lily
Native Range: Laramie Range in Wyoming
Habitat: Sub-alpine moist rock crevices and scree slopes in limestone areas at elevations of 5900-11,000 ft
Type: Perennial
Height: 2-9″
Bloom Time: Early to mid-summer
Bloom Color: White
Light: Partial shade to shade
Soil: Average, medium moist, well-drained
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3-9
Photo Credit: Ghislain, Wikimedia Commons
Mancos Columbine (Aquilegia micrantha)
The compound leaves are 4-12″ long and may be hairy. The flowers are erect or nodding and have white, cream, blue, or pink spreading sepals and white to cream or pale blue petals with pink or white spurs that have inward turning hooks at their tips.
Alternate Name/s: Alcove columbine
Native Range: Utah and Colorado as well as places in the Southwest
Habitat: Seepy rock walls of canyons at altitudes of 3,000-8,000 ft
Type: Perennial
Height: 12-24″
Bloom Time: Spring through summer
Bloom Color: Blends of whites, pinks, and yellows
Light: Partial shade
Soil: Average, medium most, well-drained
USDA Hardiness Zones: 6-9
Photo Credit: Al Schneider, USFS
Rocky Mountain Columbine (Aquilegia saximontana)
The compound leaves have two-lobed, blue-green leaflets and nodding flowers with blue spreading sepals and cream-colored petals with blue spurs hooked at the tip.
Alternate Name/s: Alpine dwarf columbine, dwarf blue columbine,
Native Range: Front Range in Colorado
Habitat: Rocky slopes in sub-alpine and alpine areas at elevations 10,800–13,100 ft
Type: Perennial
Height: 2-10″
Bloom Time: Spring to early summer
Bloom Color: White, blue
Light: Partial shade
Soil: Average, medium moist, well-drained
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4-9
Photo Credit: Ghislain118, Wikimedia Commons
Utah Columbine (Aquilegia scopulorum)
Compound leaves have very small lobes. The large erect flowers have blue to white spreading, sepals, sometimes tinted with light reddish purple, and white, blue, reddish purple petals, sometimes tinted with yellow. The 1″ long spurs are blue to white or reddish purple and straight.
Alternate Name/s: Dwarf blue columbine
Native Range: Mountains in Utah and Nevada
Habitat: Rocky slopes in subalpine forests and meadows
Type: Perennial
Height: 8-12″
Bloom Time: Spring into fall
Bloom Color: White, blue, reddish purple sometimes with reddish or yellow tinges
Light: Part shade
Soil: Gravely, lean, moderately moist, well-drained; does not like humidity
USDA Hardiness Zones: Not available
Photo Credit: Sheri Howell, USFS
Six states are included in the Rocky Mountains area: Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada. The geography is diverse and includes mountains, plains, and deserts, and the climatic conditions are variable and vary with the geography. Low annual rainfall and high temperatures are typical of some parts of the area, while snowfall and low temperatures are found in other parts and the mountains of all of these states.