Two years ago I bought Barlow columbine seeds, “Black Barlow” and “Rose Barlow” to be exact. Now after 2 years they are finally blooming.

European columbine(Aquilegia Vulgaris) can be found as a native plant in many gardens in Croatia. That was not the case in my garden. My garden was built on previous forest ground so I had to plant them to spread. I got my first Columbine bush almost 15 years ago from Mum’s colleague. Columbines were always a part of her garden and she gave us one root. Out of that root, I now have a whole field of columbines.

I thought it would be time to bring a new variety of columbines in the garden so I bought seeds of Black and Rose Barlow.
Black and Rose Barlow and cultivars of Aquilegia Vulgaris.

Characteristics:
Both Rose and Black Barlow are bushy plants with flower stems that can reach from 60-90cm. Like full sun to part shade and clay to sandy soil. Don’t require a special soil pH. They grow equally well in neutral, acid, or alkaline ground.
Like every columbine, they are mildly poisonous so deer and rabbits won’t eat them. They can survive a hard and long drought, will not bloom but the rosette will remain healthy. Columbines attract hummingbirds and butterflies.
Pests that can affect them are aphids, caterpillars, sawflies and in very moist springs they can develop leaf fungal diseases.

My columbines:
I grow my Columbines on our house retaining hillside. The hillside was built out of residual materials(sand, stones, small bricks) and then covered with clay soil. It may not be the perfect place for many plants but Columbine seems to like it. They get a good amount of clay soil and under they have good drainage.

I noticed that my Columbines aren’t really the size written in characteristics. Stems are much taller. Some reach 1.5m(59in). Also instead of the ultimate spread of 0.5m(19in) mine are 1m(39in) right now, so if you plan to plant them have in mind there is a possibility they will take much more space than written in characteristics.

I also noticed that my columbines are full of bumblebees, but no bees. There are plenty of bees in my garden right now, but they seem to avoid them and concentrate on blackberries and black locusts. Bumblebees on the other hand pick only columbines.

Stems have a nice amount of flowers, each 5-8. Rose flowers have nice color, but I expected black ones to be a bit darker.

 The color looks like purple actually and comparing them to my previous dark purple ones seems they are the same. The flower shape reminds me of small Dahlia flowers.

The conclusion:
As much as people prefer Barlow Columbines for their fluffy flowers I have to say that I like more my old European varieties. The colors of flowers are much stronger, and for some reason, Columbines with “a little skirt” on them look much more elegant to me.

Another thing that bothers me a bit is leaf size, A meter spread is using much space in my garden and it kills that thick flower veil I get when leaves are smaller.

Now I can’t wait to see what combinations I’ll get next year when the two varieties mix with my old columbines.