Homegrown Habitat, May 2024: Eastern Red Columbine
Red columbine attracts Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. By Photo by David J. Stang – source: David Stang. First published at ZipcodeZoo.com, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60999928
May 21, 2024— What better way to celebrate this floriferous time of year than to plant the fascinating, bird-friendly Eastern red columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)?
You can join the welcome party that columbine throws for the beloved ruby-throated hummingbirds: just as the tiny migrants return from their winter sojourn in Central America, columbine unfurls its brilliant red and yellow tubular petals full of sweet nectar.
Other common names include wild columbine, rock bells, dancing fairies, granny’s bonnets, and Jack-in-trousers. Its Latin genus name, Aquilegia, may come from a reference to eagles’ talons (aquilinum). The common name is believed to come from the Latin word for dove, columba, for the petals’ (called spurs) resemblance to a circle of doves.
Hummingbirds, whose eyes are primed to see red in particular, are one of just a few pollinators able to access the sweet nectar deep within the columbine spurs. The queen bumblebee has a long enough proboscis to accomplish this task. But shorter-tongued bumblebees have found a shortcut, puncturing or tearing the spur to get to the nectar.
Columbine is a host plant to a dozen species of moths and butterflies, including the columbine duskywing butterfly, whose larvae feed on the foliage and then make nests in the leaves. Columbine leaf miner, a miniscule fly larva, eats the interior leaf tissue between the top and bottom surfaces of the leaf, leaving squiggly white trails on the surface. Despite the dramatic, somewhat amusing visual effect of its work, this leafminer does not cause undue damage to columbine.
The caterpillars who feed on columbine leaves, among other native plants, are an important food source for avian parents to feed their young. Doug Tallamy, entomologist and author, explains that caterpillars are perfect food for nestlings because they are soft and full of nutrients. A clutch of chickadees needs up to 9,000 caterpillars before they fledge. Tallamy thus urges home gardeners to grow plants that can host caterpillarsnot only because they are so important to birds, but also because they are such a critical component of the food web that supports all living beings.
Patio containers, woodland edges, rock gardens, and the margins of stone or gravel paths are all suitable for columbine. By Fritzflohrreynolds – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31468510
The unusual, pendulous flowers of columbine appear from early May to June—possibly longer if temperatures don’t climb too high. Shiny black seeds follow the flowers and are scattered by the wind. They are easy to collect for fall or early spring planting, but be sure to leave some for birds such as finches and Indigo Buntings, among others. Columbine seedlings won’t flower until the second year.
Eastern red columbine is native to much of Canada and the eastern and midwestern regions of the United States. Its range nearly duplicates that of the ruby-throated hummingbird. It grows two to three feet tall and 12 to 18 inches wide. If columbine is happy in its garden location it will multiply readily by self seeding, but it is not considered a garden bully.
Columbine will grow in shade and sun and is very drought tolerant. It is particularly suited to limestone outcrops but accepts many soil types as long as they are well drained. A friend tells me that a construction site she knows—where much of the existing vegetation was removed—is host to a columbine bravely holding its own against the backhoes, having sprouted between two stone steps.
Patio containers (without a saucer underneath), woodland edges, rock gardens, and the margins of stone or gravel paths are among the many garden locations suitable for columbine. For a succession of blooms through the season, combine it with later-blooming native perennials such as beebalm, asters, goldenrod, and obedient plant.
Native Americans are said to have used columbine in several ways. Men may have rubbed crushed columbine seeds on their hands as a love charm. Other uses included treating kidney and bladder problems, fever, mouth irritation, and poison ivy rash. But making home remedies with columbine is discouraged due to the toxic compounds it contains.
Do you grow columbine? Have you seen hummingbirds enjoying it? Drop us a line about your garden or questions you may have to habitat@ctaudubon.org. Until then, enjoy the return of the hummingbirds!
Columbine
John Burroughs (1837-1921)
I strolled along the beaten way,
Where hoary cliffs uprear their heads,
And all the firstlings of the May
Were peeping from their leafy beds,
When, dancing in its rocky frame,
I saw th’ columbine’s flower of flame.
Above a lichened niche it clung,
Or did it leap from out a seam?–
Some hidden fire had found a tongue
And burst to light with vivid gleam.
It thrilled the eye, it cheered the place,
And gave the ledge a living grace.
The redstart flashing up and down,
The oriole whistling in the elm,
The kinglet with his ruby crown–
All wear the colors of thy realm;
And starling, too, with glowing coals–
So shine thy lamps by oak-tree boles.
I saw them a-flaming
Against the gray rocks;
I saw them in couples,
I saw them in flocks.
They danced in the breezes,
They glowed in the sun,
They nodded and beckoned,
Rejoiced every one.
Some grew by the wayside,
Some peered from the ledge,
Some flamed from a crevice,
And clung like a wedge;
Some rooted in dé bris
Of rocks and of trees,
And all were inviting
The wild banded bees.
Nature knows well the use of foils,
And knoweth how to recompense;
There lurks a grace in all her toils
And in her ruder elements;
And oft doth gleam a tenderness
The eye to charm, the ear to bless
Sources
Books
Laura Erikson, 100 Plants to feed the Birds Turn Your Home Garden into a Healthy Bird Habitat, Storey Publishing, 2022
Gracie, Carol Spring Wildflowers of the Northeast A Natural History, Princeton Uiversity Press, 2012
Mark Richardson and Dan Jaffe, Native Plants for New England Gardens, Globe Pequot, 2018
Websites
https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=b400
https://wildadirondacks.org/adirondack-wildflowers-wild-columbine-aquilegia-canadensis.html
https://plantfinder.nativeplanttrust.org/plant/Aquilegia-canadensis
https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=AQCA
https://nativeplantfinder.nwf.org/Plants/231
https://poems.one/poem/john-burroughs-columbine
Other
Tallamy, Douglas, keynote presentation for the Ecological Garden Summit, a virtual program on May 8, 2024
