Columbine is native to most temperate areas of the world including Europe and North America. It is often known as Aquilegia and Rockbell.

Columbines come in a wonderful range of lively colors including white, pink, lavender, peach, blue, yellow, bi-colors. The plant grows toa height of 12 - 24" and a width of 12 - 24".

The flowers range from 1"-3", and come in with every color. They have a rainbow between them have petals with long hollow spurs. They are distinctive for their five-petaled flowers. The sepals and petals are brightly coloured. The foliage is light and delicate. Leaves are basal and cauline and the leaf blade is 1-3×-ternately compound, leaflets lobed or parted, and margins crenate. The flowers are bisexual, radially symmetric; and sepals are not persistent in fruit.

The wild columbine of North America (A. canadensis), bearing red flowers with touches of yellow, grows in woods and on rocky ledges from southern Canada southward.

Columbine blooms in late spring and early summer, when their airiness and hummingbird attendants are delightful.  Most prefer moist soil in dappled sun. If growing the alpine kind (for example the blue A. alpina) make sure it has excellent drainage. Feeding is unnecessary unless the soil's exceptionally poor. Columbines don't need staking, but an overfed plant will flop.

Mildew might be troublesome, particularly during dry years, as might sawfly and leaf miners. However, they're seldom life-threatening, especially if the plants are in reasonably moist soil and growing vigorously.

They are used as food plants by some Lepidoptera species and are ideal for cottage gardens as they freely self-seed.

• The traditional colors of lavender/blue columbines are the official Colorado state flower.
• It has about 60-70 species.
• Species of Aquilegia are polymorphic and some of the variability is because of introgressive hybridization.