Sow and care for Columbine

Only if you need a large columbine at short notice is it worth buying a pre-grown perennial. Growing Columbines yourself by sowing, of course, costs less and is also quite easy.

Sow columbine - sowing outdoors or in-house preculture is possible

• If you look into the seed bag, you will see that Columbine seeds are very, very small. It is therefore not that easy to spread them broadly in the bed when sowing.
• In principle, you can start sowing outdoors as soon as the soil is no longer frozen is, because then the earth can be loosened and offers the seeds better conditions for that Germinate.
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• As an alternative to direct sowing in the bed, the plants can also be grown in small pots on the windowsill. This has the advantage that you can use loose sack soil, which encourages the seedlings to grow. In addition, the small seeds are easier to handle.
• At first, the small plants are still very tender and must not dry out under any circumstances. Especially if you prefer them in dry room air, you should keep an extra close eye on the necessary humidity.


Columbine seeds - sowing tips

Strong perennials can be grown from the tiny Columbine seeds, which you ...

• You will soon find out which are the weaker specimens. Sort these out of the pots to encourage the stronger plants to grow. If you have sown directly in the bed, you can first let nature take its course and decide at a later point in time which plants need to give way.
• When moving the plants grown in the house, it is advisable to dig a slightly larger hole in the bed and to plant the young columbines and potting soil. Pulling them out of the potting soil and placing them in a small hole in the bed often fails because the fine roots are still very sensitive and break off quickly.

Young plants become strong perennials

1. The young plant grows rather hesitantly at first, but increases in size over the months. In the first year, the columbine will rarely reach full height, and flowering may still be sparse.
2. Make it a habit to fertilize the perennial regularly at least in the first year and if possible not to let it dry out. The older plant survives shorter dry periods relatively easily and recovers from them quickly.
3. The Columbine produces several flowers on one stem. If you want to rid the plant of what has faded, cut the entire stem as low as possible. This encourages the formation of new flowers.
4. After a few months, the blooming season for the Columbine is over and the strong foliage looks pale and drained. Sometimes it even gets from mildew infested. Now is the right time to cut back the perennial radically. First of all, remove any diseased leaves. After a short time, the plant recovers from the radical cut and produces fresh, somewhat smaller leaves. It will only bloom in individual cases, but the green foliage is still quite attractive on its own.
5. In late autumn you can cut back the perennial radically again or leave it to stand. The robust plant does not normally need frost protection.

Columbine sows itself

• As early as the next early summer you will discover tiny young plants around your stand, because the plant has sown itself. The offshoots are quite easy to recognize because, in principle, they immediately have the typical leaf shape. Let nature take its course for now, because some of the offshoots will probably die.
• If the plants have developed a little further, you can try to transplant them. Proceed as when moving from the pot culture and only lift the young plants out of the bed with a generous portion of soil. The chances that they will survive the relocation are really good.
• You only have to buy a plant if you want a columbine of a certain flower color. However, if you give yourself two to three years, you can grow a larger population of sizable plants from a single plant. For this purpose, do not cut off what has withered immediately, but let the seed pods dry out. Then carefully remove them and store them until the next spring for sowing. Of course, you can also immediately scatter the filled capsules generously in the garden and create additional, natural-looking columbine beds.