The Useful Columbine 
A PLANT THAT GIVES SERVICE ALL OVER THE GARDEN IN SUN OR SHADE, 
BAD SOIL OR GOOD—THE GREAT NUMBER OF INTERESTING VARIETIES 
Photographs by the Author 
C OLUMBINES 
have solved a 
very difficult problem 
for me, and I feel 
sure that there must 
be others who have 
similar problems and 
might be helped by 
my experience, so I 
venture to set it 
forth. 
My hardy garden 
is a border seven feet 
wide running around 
the four sides of a 
rectangular ter¬ 
race 30 feet by 70 
feet. The slope on 
the upper side is 
planted with purple- 
leaved plum and haz- Columbines are particularly suitable for use in 
elnut trees, and al- between plants 
though these are kept 
clipped, they overhang the border considerably and also take 
much nourishment out of a soil already heavy and badly drained. 
I have experimented with the border at the foot of these trees 
for seven years and have found columbines to be the only flower 
meeting my requirements for the fore part of it. There are sev¬ 
eral plants which thrive and blossom at the back of the border 
where height is per¬ 
missible. I have 
Japanese lilies, fox¬ 
gloves and Japanese 
anemones there now, 
but the height limit 
for the fore part is 
two feet. Bloom is 
most needed and ap¬ 
preciated in this gar¬ 
den during the in- 
the different forms, 
and lasts well after 
the plants have flow¬ 
ered. Their bloom¬ 
ing period is longer 
than that of any other 
perennial of their 
height and season. 
They succeed in either 
dry or wet seasons. 
They are not subject 
to diseases nor to the 
attacks of insects. 
They are graceful for 
cutting, and need no 
staking in summer 
and no protection in 
winter. In fact, they 
lack only perfume 
among the floral vir- 
I began my collec¬ 
terval between the 
blooming of the 
spring bulbs and the 
June bloom of the 
rose garden and that 
of the annuals in the 
box garden, so I 
have considered on¬ 
ly the ]\Iay blooming 
perennials. 
Columbines have, 
to my mind, many 
virtues. Their col¬ 
ors are most varied, 
yet harmonious, the 
foliage comes early 
In ground that is shaded or impoverished by in the spring, is in¬ 
teresting because of 
trees, columbines often do well 
borders and edgings, where they acceptably tues. 
of low and high growth 
tion of columbines by 
buying ])lants; clirysaiitlia, flabellata liana alba, glandulosa. and 
caeriilca were the varieties. A number of tbe plants were not 
true to name and later 1 bought seed of the hybrid varieties. 
This germinated poorly, but by saving the seed from only the 
best plants I now have a collection of columbines which bloom 
for two months. The vulgaris, glandulosa and canadensis bloom 
earlier than the rest, . 
and chrysantha, of 
which there is now 
a white variety, de¬ 
cidedly later. 
In my experience 
the best time to sow 
the seed is immedi¬ 
ately after it has ri¬ 
pened, when nearly 
every seed germi¬ 
nates, and the young 
plants attain suffi¬ 
cient size to stand 
the winter in the 
seed bed without 
protection. T h e y 
will bloom a little 
tbe following spring 
and inferior vari¬ 
eties can be dis¬ 
carded. In the au¬ 
tumn, I transplant 
to my border, 
where many of the 
plants live and 
bloom profusely for 
{Continued on page The foliage is attractive as well as the blos- 
48) soms, and presents considerable variety 
(24I 
