Happy Mystery Monday! Can you guess what is pictured in photo below?
The answer to last week’s mystery is the eastern red columbine, Aquilegia canadensis, pictured in the photo below:
.The eastern red columbine is in the buttercup family. It is the only species of columbine native to eastern North America, and is easy to grow from seeds or from divisions of rootstocks. Columbine can be found growing in less than ideal conditions, like in a pocket of soil surrounded by giant boulders.
Eastern red combines hybridize freely in the wild as well as in the garden. It is a delicate but hardy herb with thin, woody rhizomes and slender, much-branched stems that typically grow 1-2′ tall.
The red columbine flower consists of five tubular, red petals with yellow lips, and numerous yellow stamens projecting downward like a golden tassel. The flower is perfectly adapted to long-tongued nectar feeders, like hawk moths and hummingbirds. Flowers bloom from Spring through early Summer. Columbine is deer-resistant and pollinator-friendly.
Mystery Monday is sponsored by the Spy Newspapers and Adkins Arboretum.
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