Ouroboros garden

The name “columbine” comes from the Latin word “columba”, meaning dove in reference to the flowers looking like a dove in flight. The genus name, “Aquilegia” may also refer to a bird, from the Latin “aquila” though it could also be from the Latin “aqua” for water and “legere” meaning collect because the spurs of the flower collect rain. The plant is native all across the northern hemisphere including Canada. In eastern Canada including Nova Scotia, the native species is the red-flowered Aquilegia canadensis. Many species of Aquilegia will hybridize freely; with this in mind these seeds, which come from plants allowed to open pollinate are likely the European Aquilegia vulgaris but may or may not have introgressed genes from other Aquilegia species of North America. I have no idea which Aquilegia could be near our garden in Halifax.
Germination and growing instructions: Aquilegia seeds are very easy to germinate, similar to their cousin, the poppy (both are in the Ranunculaceae family) and like the poppy their seeds are fairly fragile, they can be crushed easily. The plants are short-lived perennials, usually living a handful of years depending on their species or hybrid. Aquilegia freely self-seed, their pods dispersing hundreds of seeds in late summer to early fall, so replanting them is rarely needed. These seeds come from plants that show genetic variability in their flowers, they’re likely to produce a variety of different blooms again. The plants are very cold hardy (zones 3-8) even continuing to grow into December in Halifax. the picture of an Aquilegia rosette above was taken in mid-December.
100+ seeds per packet.