The little green worms stripping your columbine are sawfly larvae, aka rose slugs. To tell you the truth, I've never seen an adult, only the offspring :) "The adult sawfly is a relatively unobtrusive gnat-like creature, less than 1/4-inch in length"

I'm sooooo sad, my columbines didn't come back this year. I really loved them. I'll be planting lots more.

Mary

I looked up the sawfly on the net and I think these things are too small to be their larvae. What I did notice is that it was stated that whitefly sometimes attacks Columbines. I wonder if they look blue against the green and dark colours of the earth. Tomorrow I will check the leaves more closely to see if I can see where they originate. They were still there today and I sprayed again. It seems they are coming from the earth so I'll search there and under the leaves. They were so beautiful last year I would love a repeat.

Mary, it's strange yours did not come back. It took two years for mine to bloom. I did lose some to the rose slugs their first year.