i would recommend Aquilegia canadensis. its the native columbine - no cultivar or variety - just the original.

it selfs seeds fairly readily and should be long lasting. you might want to check into the New England Native Plant Society - they can point you in the direction of where to get seeds or plugs for it. most nurseries will carry a cultivar or variety which could be why they are not long lasting.

I have not found columbine to do well in FULL shade. It needs at least an hour or so (for me) of morning sun.

Does anyone know if voles eat columbine:-(?

Springcherry

I agree with joepyeweed. The native Aquilegia canadensis seems to grow anywhere. The individual plants may die out, but it self sows to abundantly that you will have columbine blooming every year. It is not fussy about light or soil type. It just pops up in sun or shade. My experience with the other columbines is that they die after a few years. Sometimes they self-sow, but are not as hardy as the native.

Most Columbine should last for a long time provided you dead head before it goes to seed.

Springcherry -
I'm pretty sure that voles don't eat columbine.
However - many cats adore hunting voles ;) - which can be convenient!

Most Columbine should last for a long time provided you dead head before it goes to seed.
Huh?? What does deadheading have to do with the lifespan of the plant??

Man, I need to get a cat! Only problem is DH hates them and says he'd divorce me if I got one. DH or cat? DH or cat? Hmmmmmmm.

DurtyKneez, I need you (and the outdoor cat I presume you have) for a neighbor.

Springcherry

chose the cat! /Abi

The original wild does well in full shade. I have dug many plants out from under a plot of large oak. It blooms longer when it is in the shade. I never dead head, well the kids eat them. They bloom form May to july.

When you say "origional wild" are you refering to the same native variety that Joepyeweed is talking about?

Yup, the natives seem to self-sow regularly, and I have them popping up like mad in my Hosta bed under a pine tree. No direct sun. I have several popping up elsewhere in my part sun garden. One even has really neat blue/green leaves. I assume this is a seedling of one of my wild types, as I never planted any with blue/green leaves.

Rosa,
Deadheading saves the plant energy that it would otherwise expend on making seeds. So sometimes plants live longer when deadheaded.

Have a very hard time believing that statement. And is quite the contrary.

Biologically speaking, the goal is reproduction and if that mechanism is cut off the plant spends more energy since deadheading in some species, including columbines, produces another flush of blooms.

Flowering is the most expensive energy expenditure for a plant. Repeated deadheading that forces the plant to attempt to produce more blooms, saps energy that would normally go into building root reserves designed to sustain the plant thru the winter.

Would love to see some scientific data on this since this principle is used in weed management. You let the plant bolt, cut the flowers and force the plant to bolt again weakens the plant. If this is carried our over a few years the root reserves are depleated to a point where the plant dies.

It is a widely accepted gardening practice. If you have scientific research on the topic, please share it.

Actually, I asked you for scientific data (an article link or two will do) since it's nothing I learned in any gardening, horticulture, botany, biology or weed science class. I can't seem to find any reference to this and wondering where I can find info on this widely accepted gardening practice of deadheading to prolong the life of a perennial plant-especially the columbines that were originally mentioned??

i think rosa and karchita are debating two different "gardening" practices.

deadheading is a common practice but its more for "gardening" - which is typically done with non-native plants and cultivars. Generally the reseeding of plants is not necessarily desirable.

native plantings or habitat growing doesnt require deadheading for a couple reasons. - you are using natives that need to reproduce to evolve and you are relying on reproduction of species to continue and spread.

thanks joepyeweed, I think you are right.
Deadheading is done to keep self seeders in check, at transplanting and to produce a new flush of blooms.
It is not done for prolonging the life of a perennial plant as stated and can act quite to the contrary.

...... [botanist here] .....

Deadheading can be very useful with annuals. Their 'strategy' is to make as many seeds as they can, before they die in the fall. If you deadhead the flowers before they fully set seed, the plant will use the resources that it would have used to develop and fill seeds to create more flowers, in an effort to try again. The annuals will die in the fall, regardless. It's fair to get the longest show of flowers.

Deadheading generally is not a recommended practice for perennials. Their flowering patterns are based on other complex sets of parameters, which balance resources between flowering and seed set with the need to retain and store resources belowground for the next year's growth. These things vary wildly from species to species, and will vary wildly *within* species depending on environmental conditions and time of year, so it's hard to be clear about all this in a comment about 'perennials' as a class.

But deadheading perennials is generally not a good plan. Let the plant decide what it's optimal resource allocation is this year, in the conditions it's growing in. That's the best way to make sure that it is back and healthy *next* year....

I'm glad Rosa and others cleared that up because I want to grow columbines in shade as well, and was taking notes while reading this, it didn't seem to make sense to me either.
heather