Aquilegia, Hybrid Columbine 'Swan Blue and White'

Bought two of these from Home Depot. In spite of being left in their pots too long as I couldn't make up my mind where to put them, they ...Read Morehave been sending up large, charming sky blue-and-white flowers for a month now.

They seemed to dislike the intensely hot full sun that started spring off this year and are looking better in the morning sun / afternoon dappled shade by some heucheras, but as trees overhead fill in I suspect I will need to move them again to a brighter spot for good flowering.

The Swan Series are Aquilegia x hybrida, not Aquilegia vulgaris. They are an F-1 hybrid, so the seed from them may be sterile. The cold...Read More period common to most Columbines isn't required in the Swan Series, but it will help blooming to expose it to 40F for a few weeks. The Swan Series is said to have large blooms, blooming first year, easy to grow and are taller than the Songbird Series.

I'm growing one plant INDOORS on a window sil*. I placed 6 seeds in moist soil inside tupperware in the fridge for 4 weeks, then moved the container to a bright window sil in winter around 70F (indoor thermometer temperature). 6 out of 6 came out of the seed shell after about 2 weeks. After some leaves showed up, I transferred to a planter and 5 of 6 survived. The others are still alive but one is doing poorly. I'm finding they grow slowly indoors during the winter.

I'll post pictures when I get blooms since it's hard to find accurate pictures of blue flowers!

Also note: Seeds and roots are very poisonous if ingested. All parts of the plant are mildly toxic to pets if they ingest it (nausea).

*Update: I have read that all columbines need a cold treatment (in addition to stratifying), so indoor columbines are VERY difficult to manage. First the seeds need 4 weeks moist in the fridge, then transplant them into pots where they get decent light. When they have 10-12 leaves, they should be given a cold treatment, which means to keep the soil around 50-60F. Some species need 4 weeks of this, others need 9. Finally, they can be grown inside for the rest of the season.

But in the winter, they plant should be cut back and kept in a cold place to be overwintered. For a container plant, that means it needs to be hardy to 2 zones colder than the one you're in because containers don't get the warmth of the earth.

If I knew this when I started, I would have just said "forget it!". It's not really worth the effort to grow columbines indoors.

Eventually, 2 of my 7 Swans bloomed first year despite not getting that cold treatment at the 10-leaf stage. Beautiful blooms! I was diligent in deadheading and I got a second flush, nearly as nice as the first, and almost got a small third when winter stopped it. I'm uploading a couple pics now of the indoor and outdoor, adjusted to show colours as accurate as possible (since all pics online are tinted to trick us customers!)