Columbine is one of our favorite perennial flowers in the landscape. They are blooming their hearts out right now. The blossom looks as if it could come from another world, and the foliage is equally distinct from every other plant in the landscape. Every spring we set some out under light shade. Every winter we scan the seed catalogs looking for new and different varieties and species of Aquilegia. Something new is what interests us; a different color, shape, or size. Not all Columbine do equally well in our climate in northeastern Oklahoma, so we are continually on the search for those varieties and species that do best here.
Even the best of the genus Aqueligia are not long-lived perennials. After all the technical definition of a perennial plant is any plant that lives more than two years. Some Perennials seem to last forever, while others make it only a hand full of years before they wear themselves out and have to be replanted. Annuals complete their life cycle in one growing season, casting seeds everywhere and dying when the first frost cuts them all down in late October. The seeds, given ideal conditions will repeat the cycle the next spring. Biennials bring a little twist to the plant kingdom by growing vegetatively one season, and producing seeds the next season and then dying at the end of the second season.
The big garden centers in town grow many of their perennials for over a year so they can sell a blooming plant at the beginning of the plant’s second season. At High-Fence Farm we do not offer second-year perennials. They take a lot of work to keep over winter into their second year. That makes them way more expensive to you the customer. Our perennials are started from seed or cuttings in late winter and made available to you, usually for about the same price we would sell a petunia or periwinkle. You save money, and if you are willing to wait a season you get a well established plant that will bloom every one of its blooms in your presence next spring. Come out this week and pick up a few of our promising young Columbine plants. We have four or five new varieties that we know you will just love (next year).