The Spice of Life

I have a large variety of columbines growing in a shade area of my garden this year, and I am thrilled! My first spring here I tried sowing a bunch of columbine seeds in a shady area under the Douglas firs, but some overzealous mow-and-blow crew members grubbed the little seedlings out with a grub hoe, thinking they were weeds.

So I tried again, and when the seedlings popped up, I covered them with cages made of hardware cloth, to make sure it didn't happen again. Last year I had plenty of leaves, but not many flowers.

This year -- Wham! So many different colors and flower types!

Short, tall, double, single, frilly -- and everything in between.

Second only to daylilies, columbines are one of my favorite flowers. I tried to get a patch of them going in my old garden, and I basically succeeded, but they never looked like this!

Did I mention I'm thrilled?

Wouldn't you be?