Stunning!
this post was submitted on 23 May 2025
72 points (96.2% liked)
Gardening
4696 readers
3 users here now
Your Ultimate Gardening Guide.
Rules
- Be respectful and inclusive.
- No harassment, hate speech, or trolling.
- Engage in constructive discussions.
- Share relevant content.
- Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
- Use appropriate language and tone.
- Report violations.
- Foster a continuous learning environment.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
I miss the multicolored, but these being one of the first bloomers always marks the little spring we have.
I love columbines. They are so beautiful and I love that they kind of wander through the garden. I have my first one in bloom this year and can't wait to see it spread around
Mine haven’t, I’ve been judicious with the dead heading though. May let it go wild this year or collect the seeds.
I tried doing some from seed this year myself, but they aren’t easy seeds to start inside!
You need to cold stratify the seeds for 30 days to get them to bloom. I'm letting mine just go hog wild and seed anywhere
I love hos the flowers look like it's a bunch of doves sitting in a ring
That red color is very lovely :)
Columbines don't change their color. That was likely a mixed pot of several different plants. Over the years the other plants have died out leaving only the red.
?
That’s not true, coloured columbines typically shift back to wild red after a few years. Most flowers shift colors depending on environmental factors.
They used to be blue, white and yellow.
Nope.
Flower color in columbines is strictly genetic. Hybridization between populations is common to get all sorts of colors. If you usually end up with red flowers that's because that population is better adapted to your environment. I usually end up with more blues.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/beauty/columbines/birdsandbees.shtml
Now environmental conditions can change the expression of flower color in some species. For example hydrangeas will bloom blue or red based upon the soil pH. White hydrangeas are not affected by soil pH, they always bloom white. The degree of pigmentation can also shift in roses based upon temperature. So you'll get more intense color under cooler conditions and paler colors under hot conditions. The genetics doesn't change but the expression of the traits can.
Your link doesn’t support what you say. Like at all.
Over many years, interbreeding can result in a stable population that is a completely different color. Alpine meadows filled with columbines of an intermediate color have been observed throughout the western United States.
They change colours, the specifics are moot. Red is what’s natural here, so they will usually shift back to that colour. If blue is natural where you are, the flowers will typically shift back to that colour.
The mix didn’t have any red to begin with either.
The paragraph you quoted is the exact bit that supports my statement. Since you didn't understand it allow me to define some things
Interbreeding - this is sexual reproduction from flower to seed to a new plant between two different population groups or species. This refers to generations not one plant.
Stable population - this is a term used in population genetics to describe the expression of traits is relatively unchanging from one generation to the next in a population.
The author also describes a few mechanisms for how the colors change in the population. The color preference of the dominant pollinator is the major selection pressure.
A few other bits of information. Columbines are biannual/short lived perennials. The first year or couple of years the plants grow vegetatively and do not bloom. When the plant gets large enough it blooms and produces seed. The plant then dies at the end of the season. That fall or the next spring the seeds germinated and it takes 2-4 years for the plant to flower and the cycle to repeat itself.
And you don’t seem to be able to comprehend that most people don’t have large enough gardens to supply proper hybridization, so it naturally goes back to the natural colour. If I had a large garden, what you said CAN happen, but in almost all situations, it doesn’t properly interbreed, it reverts to its natural colour.
Also, again, no reds to begin with, and I’ve dead headed the plant every year, it’s never seeded itself.
Most people will have columbines that shift back to the natural colours, not provide hybridization since there’s not enough to compete with the naturals, so they take back over. So what you’re describing, isn’t what most people will see with their plants. If you want to talk about edge cases like it’s the norm. Go and bloviate dude.
This was all stuff we were warned about ahead of time by the nursery.
The nursery completely misled you. This is extremely common. Nursuries spread whatever myth is convenient to pacify their customers. So kindly stop spreading their bullshit.
Here is the likely original source of the seed. It's one of two wholesale supplies that produce the seed.
https://www.applewoodseed.com/product/columbine-mckana-giants-mix/
This is a segregating population many different colors. They hybrid refers to an inter-specific cross back in the 1950's.
Not all of the colors will bloom at the same time. Some bloom after one year, others bloom after 2-3 years. Columbines also have what is called seed dormancy. Seeds can remain in the soil for several years before they germinate.
What you think of is one plant is likely 10 or so individual plants completing their lifecycle the past few years.
It’s not McKanas, there’s more than one mix of columbines.
I’m also not in the USA.
This isn’t just one nursery dude. Your own link doesn’t even corroborate what you’ve said. We shopped multiple nurseries. You’re literally the only one on the internet claiming this.
I know this is more than one plant…. That’s why the colours shifting, because some have died out, and some have changed colour. Again for the third bloody time, this never started with red in it. And nothing you’ve provided have said they don’t change colours. In fact they say they do, I even provided the part of YOUR source that states this.
You’re wrong dude, leave it.
You can't even follow my explanations can you. Oh well....
FYI, You've been arguing plant genetics and gene expression with a commercial plant breeder... LMAO.
Thanks for the entertainment.
If you’re a commercial plant breeder I feel sorry for your clients.
In your last comment you say there is only a few resellers, which is applicable in the US, where I don’t reside. You also link the McKanas giant mix. Which clearly my 1” blooms aren’t… so your entire claims should be brought under question. I even stated this in my previous comment, which you of course ignored since it shows your lack of comprehension.
You are the type of person who just googles something and runs with it aren’t you? Your first link even talks about how they do change colour, so it really sounds like you have a surface depth knowledge and are bloviating about adjacent topics to make yourself look smart.
You can’t even provide a source that backs up your claim, and almost all other sources and nurseries say otherwise. __ So yeah, if you are actually a commercial breeder, people either need avoid you, or you probably aren’t what you claim.
I also haven’t argued with you about anything, you keep going off on tangents when I talk about my plants shifting colours as they naturally do, like your own link even states… so if you enjoy arguing with yourself, you should maybe go and get checked out mate. Because this is completely one sided.
You mis ID the plant and have talked with such confidence about the US situation…. where I don’t even reside… for the umpteenth time.
Wait… I found the issue, where did I say the plants magically change colour? Your entire argument has been about something I’ve never stated and you assumed that I meant they randomly change colour?
Go back through the comments and you’ll see that I don’t state that, in fact my comments all talk about how they die end of season and come back differently. I also dead head, so they couldn’t have hybridized, but of course this is another point you just ignored in your bloviated rant….
You insult MY reading comprehension, when you started an argument over something YOU assumed?
All I said was they change colour, than every comment you go and explain how they do while thinking I was talking genetics? Please show where in my comment you got this stupid idea from. Show the class, please. Of course some die, the environment conditions (which is what I was talking about) affects those. I never argued any of these points, yet in every response you assumed I was arguing with you. Get help dude.