COMING SOON! OUR 2025 CATALOG IS ARRIVING IN JANUARY!
Skip to the content
SELECT SEEDS

We're getting ready for the new year!

We have been busy packing our favorite flower seeds and gearing up for another amazing year. Stay tuned for back in stock seeds and plants for 2025 plus over 75 new varieties!
Columbine 'Calimero'
Columbine 'Calimero'
Seed Packet

Columbine 'Calimero'

Aquilegia buergeriana
The epitome of grace and charm, this spring to early summer blooming columbine has compact mounds of blue-green foliage–a lovely setting for the wiry stems that shoot up and soon open nodding flowers in Easter egg colors of plum and primrose yellow. Try it in a container or at the edge of woodland gardens, where it will be an unexpected joy.
SKU #S1685
Caution: Poisonous. The purchaser assumes all liability related to the use of this product.
$5.00
Currently Unavailable
Notify Me When Available
Growing Companions
Columbine - Wild 'Pink Lanterns'
Columbine - Wild 'Pink Lanterns'
Primrose 'Cowslip'
Primrose 'Cowslip'
Columbine 'Chocolate Soldier'
Columbine 'Chocolate Soldier'
Primrose - Wild
Primrose - Wild
Details
Approximate Seeds Per Packet
40
Lifecycle
Perennial
Perennial Hardiness Zone
6,
7,
8,
9
Mature Size
6-8" h x 10"-1' w
Sun
Full sun to partial shade
Soil
Regular to rich, well-drained
Season
Spring to summer
Color
Plum-purple and creamy yellow nodding bells with spurs.
Features
Great Cut Flower
Deer Resistant
Attracts Butterflies
Attracts Bees
Attracts Hummingbirds
SOWING INSTRUCTIONS
Depth:
Surface sow
Sprout Time:
Irregular germination often over 1-2 months
Starting Indoors:
Sow indoors 8-12 weeks before setting outdoors after frost. Cover seed with a humdidity dome or a light sprinkling of vermiculite and keep at 68F.
Starting Outdoors:
Sow early to late spring, or in late summer.
WHEN TO SET OUTSIDE
At last frost date.
PLACEMENT & CULTIVATION
Columbine 'Calimero' attracts butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds; its spring bloom makes it valuable as an early-season nectar source. It is also deer and rabbit resistant and grows well in the dappled sun of woodland edges and sunnier rock gardens. It is a small delight, perhaps best in containers, where the plum and soft yellow dangling blooms can be appreciated up close. Cut flower stalks after bloom to encourage a rebloom. In their first year of growth, perennials bulk up roots and foliage, blooming more abundantly starting the second year. Caution: contains some toxic elements especially in the roots and foliage.
Final Spacing:
1'
Water Requirements:
Medium Water Use
Watering Details:
Plants are somewhat drought tolerant but do best with evenly moist soil; about 1" of water per week, more in full sun.
Soil pH:
Prefers slightly acidic to neutral pH levels.
Fertilizer:
Mix in a couple of inches of compost annually.
Diseases & Pests:
A common pest of columbines, leaf miners damage leaves by chewing tunnels in the leaves. At first indication of damage, pick off the affected leaves and destroy or use sprays of Bacillus thuringiensis, a biological, to combat.
When to Cut for Bouquets:
Harvest when 1/2 of the florets are open.
Growing Guides Winter Sowing Guide
Access here