They’re droopy, elegant and found from the forests to the alpine. Yellow Columbine, Aquilegia flavescens, are flowers of the early spring – which can mean early July at high elevations.
Take a look at how deep the flower is. This is the kind of natural butterfly and hummingbird attractant that is common to K-Country. They have tongues long enough to get into the flower. The flowers are also readily eaten (or dried and then eaten) by Golden Mantled or Columbian Ground Squirrels, Pika and Marmots.
The common name of Columbine translates from Latin to “dove-like”. Each of the flower’s 5 petals kind of looks like a dove curling into the flower’s centre.
Yellow Columbine can grow singularly or in small patches. While normally, the moister the soil, the more dense they will grow, we often find dense flower patches in the alpine growing in and among the rocks. Often they can grow with other flowers like Arnica. Yellow Columbine can also be found at native plant stores and grown in gardens in Calgary.
See more of the pretty flowers of K-Country here!
