I'll upload pictures so you can see the true color of this. It's not navy by any definition. It's more red-purple than the Swan Blue & ...Read MoreWhite columbines that I uploaded pictures of. You can see in the one picture that it's lighter than the Blue Barlow planted next to it.
Be aware, this plant shouldn't bloom first year unless you're lucky!
The Spring Magic series are a hybrid, so you have to buy seed or plants from a store; seeds from the plant are either sterile or won't look like the parent.
The hybridizer website says to germinate at 75F for 2-3 weeks in acidic soil. Some light is needed for germination (NOT direct sunlight)
I had best luck germinating these by soaking them first in water + hydrogen peroxide for a day to weaken the seed coat. You can try to nick the tip of the seed with clippers but they're awfully tiny. I put them in a moist paper towel in a ziplock in the fridge for 4 weeks, then at room temperature in moist soil.
I had them in direct sunlight on soil in tupperware and they were scorched, so I started over again with a piece of paper filtering the sunlight and got much more success in germinating.
I grew one indoors and the rest outdoors. BE WARNED, they probably won't bloom indoors because they need to be chilled at fridge temperatures for 6-8 weeks when the plant has gotten 10-12 leaf stems. This triggers it to grow a flower stalk. Growing outdoors, the first year the plant grows, then it gets this cold treatment over the winter, and the flower stalk forms in the crown in the spring naturally.
Germination is tougher than the average plant because of the fridge time. But it's a great flower. It's a dwarf columbine and some of the blooms were underneath the foliage. I took probably the most beautiful flower picture I ever will of this.
Near the end of the season, I had spider mites inside and leaf miners outside. Grrr. I found it most effective to wash the leaves with my thumb and index finger to rub them off my single plant.
I'll upload pictures so you can see the true color of this. It's not navy by any definition. It's more red-purple than the Swan Blue & ...Read More