Aquilegia pubescens

Identification

Gallery

Description

As Aquilegia formosa but with larger, all yellow flowers with longer, more delicate spurs, sometimes with a little red or pink (if crossed with A. formosa). Flowers are erect, not nodding, and the form is similar to the Colorado columbine (Aquilegia coerulea) Native to the central Sierra Nevada mountains, at middle to high elevations, it looks very much like a more delicate version of a hybrid garden columbine. This plant performs fine throughout most of California and thrives under garden conditions in the central coast ranges. One of our customers is watering them regularly under part-shade and they are three foot tall covered with three inch flowers, and stunning! This species is an example of a higher -elevation species that will grow well at lower elevations. Because this plant grows in higher, moister situations, it does better with part shade and regular water at lower elevations. Our original plants came from Jack Zanovich in the early 1980's. He said he grew them from seed from the Breckenridge Mtn. area of the Southern Sierras.