Aquilegia Earlybird™ White
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Aquilegia Earlybird™ White: Creamy White Faces Turned Upward
Creamy white flowers facing upward on a compact mound, as tidy as freshly folded linen. This columbine is the neat freak of the spring garden. NOT A PETAL OUT OF PLACE.
Plant Characteristics:
- Botanical Name: Aquilegia hybrid
- Common Name: Columbine
- Series: Earlybird™, a PanAmerican Seed first-year-flowering columbine series
- Height: 23–28 cm (9–11 in)
- Spread: 20–25 cm (8–10 in)
- Flowers: Creamy white, 5–8 cm (2–3 in) across, facing upward
- Bloom Time: Late spring to early summer (May to July)
- Foliage: Soft, finely divided green leaves in a compact mound
- Features: Compact, good cut flower
Where to Plant: Use it to brighten the front of a part-sun border, a woodland edge or a container. White flowers glow against dark foliage and soften stronger colours nearby.
Companion Plants: Use white columbines to brighten a moist, part-shade bed with soft yellow and blue partners. Polemonium 'Heavenly Habit' adds violet-blue stars at 25 to 30 cm from May to July. Astrantia 'Star of Billion' brings white pincushion flowers at 55 to 65 cm from June to August. Digitalis grandiflora adds pale yellow foxglove bells at 60 to 90 cm from June to August. Miscanthus × giganteus makes a towering green screen at the back, 250 to 350 cm tall.
Plant Care: Plant in full sun or part sun in moist, well-drained soil. Afternoon shade helps the flowers last longer in hot weather. Avoid heavy, soggy soil, especially over winter. Water regularly through the first season. Deadhead to keep it tidy and encourage a few more flowers. If the leaves look tired or get marked by leaf miners in midsummer, cut them back and fresh foliage will follow. Like most columbines, individual plants are fairly short-lived, so a few new ones every few years keeps the show going.
History: The Earlybird™ series comes from PanAmerican Seed and was bred to need less winter chill than older columbines, so plants flower quickly and stay short and well branched, with upward-facing flowers. The genus name Aquilegia comes from the Latin word for eagle, a nod to the claw-like spurs.
Final Thoughts: Light up a part-sun corner or a patio pot. Hummingbirds and bees come by for inspection. PASSES THE WHITE GLOVE TEST EVERY TIME.