NewsJardinTV, the channel that, with you, shares 100% of the passion for plants, gardens, botany, nature and gardening, offers you issue 365 of its show "Le Quotidien du Jardin" produced by Nicole and Patrick Mioulane. Faouzya6876 asks us the following question: I despair of being able to keep my columbines that never come back two years in a row while I am told that they re-seed themselves. Can you tell me why? Columbine is the common name for plants of the genus Aquilegia, which have various other popular names: aiglantine, bonnet de grandmère, bonnet du bon Dieu, cinq-doigts, columbine, cornette, fleur de capuce, fleur du parfait amour, gant de Notre-Dame. The genus Aquilegia includes 128 species (family Ranunculaceae), of which the approximately 2,500 species that it includes are toxic plants. This is the case for the roots and seeds of columbine, a plant quite similar to aconite, which contain alkaloids that act on the heart. On the other hand, the flowers and leaves are said to be harmless. Columbines are rhizomatous perennials, native to high-altitude regions of the northern hemisphere, which gives them perfect hardiness (-20 °C). On the other hand, their lifespan is relatively short, on average 2 to 4 years. But you can let the plants go to seed so that they reseed themselves naturally. In the garden, columbine is an ideal plant in natural-style compositions because it is a wandering perennial with a graceful shape. Here is our selection of the most commonly grown species: • Aquilegia caerulea the Colorado blue columbine, the official flower of the State of Colorado. It is a 20 to 60 cm tall plant whose flowers, blooming from April to June, are generally light blue and white, but which can also be white, pink or yellow. • Aquilegia chrysantha, the yellow-flowered columbine or golden columbine lives in the wild from the southwestern United States to northwestern Mexico. The flowers, which appear from May to early June, are yellow with filiform spurs. The cultivar 'Yellow Queen' which is 60 cm tall and produces an abundance of lemon-yellow flowers, is the most popular. • Aquilegia flabellata, the dwarf columbine or Japanese columbine is a 20 to 30 cm tall plant which bears flowers in early summer that combine pale blue and creamy white. • Aquilegia vulgaris, the common columbine is a perennial plant from 20 cm to 1 m high that can be found in France at the edge of woods and in meadows. The leaves forming the base of the tuft are long petiolate, divided into 3 leaflets, themselves divided into 3 leaflets. Flowering takes place from May to July. The flowers are large, blue or purple, long pedunculated, formed of 5 petals ending in curved spurs. There are cultivars with double flowers and selections with astonishing colors such as 'William Guiness, semi-double flowers with purplish-purple petals almost black edged with white. 'Nora Barlow' is named after Charles Darwin's granddaughter who discovered it in her garden in Cambridge. It is a vigorous variety with red and white pompom-shaped flowers. But mainly hybrids are grown from crosses between Aquilegia vulgaris and the American species: Aquilegia caerulea and Aquilegia chrysantha, for a great diversity of colors. Columbines like light and humus-rich soils. They thrive in light shade, but they prefer sun. In hot and dry weather in summer, the foliage can dry out, but it renews itself with the first rains. The foliage of columbines, especially in spring, is a delicacy much appreciated by slugs and snails. Columbine downy mildew (Peronospora aquilegiicola), an oomycete (pseudo fungus) native to eastern Asia, appeared in Great Britain in 2014. It has been raging in Germany since spring 2020. If you notice chlorotic necrosis, twisted stems and rapid drying of your columbines, you should report it to the SRVP (Regional Plant Protection Service) whose directory you can find on the internet. Columbine has been associated with madness for ages because the five pointed petals of the flower are reminiscent of the bell-shaped cap worn by the jesters of the Middle Ages who were called the "king's fools". Thank you for following this daily program. We hope you enjoyed this short video interlude. The ambition of the entire NewsJardinTV team is to make you spend pleasant moments in our company. We invite you to join us tomorrow from 7 p.m. for a new program: "LE QUOTIDIEN DU JARDIN". It's on NewsJardinTV and nowhere else! In issue 366, we will answer the following question: I really liked your show on tarragon too, I would be tempted to ask you for a video on its cousin absinthe, thank you in advance.