Columbine - Eastern (Native)

Aquilegia canadensis (Eastern Columbine seeds)

~40 Seeds

Bring early-season beauty and pollinator power to your garden with this charming, compact native perennial.

Eastern Columbine lights up shady spots with its nodding, red-and-yellow blooms in late spring to early summer—just when hungry hummingbirds and early pollinators are on the move. Its delicate, lobed foliage adds texture and interest, and it’s naturally more resistant to leaf miners than other varieties.

Thriving in well-drained soil, it’s ideal for woodland gardens, shady borders, and naturalizing on rocky slopes.

• Perennial, typically flowers in second year. Hardy to zone 3.
• Height: 45–60 cm (18–24 in)
• Sun requirements: Prefers part sun to part shade; tolerates full sun in cooler climates
• Planting spacing: 45–60 cm (18–24 in) apart
• Depth: surface sow, do not cover
• Germination: 30 – 60 days after cold stratification if starting indoors or outside in spring
  
• Bloom time: Spring - Early Summer

Growing Instructions:

Indoors:
•    Pre-chill seeds 4–8 weeks in moist sand or potting mix at 4–5 °C before sowing. Press seeds onto a moist seed-starting mix; do not cover—they need light. 
•    Timing: Sow 8–10 weeks before last frost.
•    Indoor vs outdoor: Recommended to start indoors for better germination control, but stratified outdoor sowing also works well.

Outdoors:
•    Fall sowing: Broadcast in early fall (for spring germination). Spring sowing: Pre-chill seeds 4–8 weeks in moist sand or potting mix at 4–5 °C before sowing