SCIENTIFIC NAME: Aquilegia X hybrida

COMMON NAME: Hybrid columbine

FAMILY: Ranunculaceae

TYPE: horticultural annual typically in zone 8 but readily reseeds (perennial farther north)

LEAVES: 2-3 ternately compound, softly pubescent, attractive gray-green or blue-green

FLOWER: terminal, hanging or erect, with long or short spurs projecting backwards; red, pink, yellow, blue, white, solid or bicolors, and doubles

SEASON OF BLOOM: spring to early summer for about a month

GROWTH HABIT: 1' to 3', erect

SOIL: moist, well drained; rich soil

SUN: part shade

HARDINESS: zone 3-9

UTILIZATION: woodland or wildflower areas, cut flowers, cool season plant--may become dormant in hot summers

DISEASES: leaf spot, crown rot. powdery mildew

INSECTS AND RELATED PESTS: leaf miner (control by cutting plants to ground after flowering), columbine borer

PROPAGATION: seed, division in late summer

MAINTENANCE: low

RELATED SPECIES: A. canadensis--native, smaller red and yellow flowers, but generally fewer pest problems and longer survival of plants in landscape than the hybrids