Aquilegia saximontana

[TheOnionMan]

This little nugget from the late Linc Foster, with an essential line drawing from Timmy Foster exemplifying the essence of Aquilegia saximontana, a dwarf open spray of leaves and flowers with those spreading or divergent spurs.  This appeared in the Bulletin of the American Rock Garden Society, Vol. 38, Summer 1980, No.3, entitled "Aquilegia saximontana in Connecticut".

[maggiepie]

Here's another aquilegia I have labelled as saximontana, also grown from seed.

Yes or no? 

Sorry the pics aren't very good.

[TheOnionMan]

Here's another aquilegia I have labelled as saximontana, also grown from seed.

Yes or no? 

Sorry the pics aren't very good.

Ding, ding, ding!  Congratulations Helen, give this woman a teddy bear!    Yes, that looks like A. saximontana, notice the outwardly splayed (divergent) spurs... yours is the first columbine submitted on this topic that looks correct.  Well done!

Where did you get the seed?  Now, there is also a strong possibility this is a hybrid with saximontana, particularly if it came from garden grown seed, but it at least has the right look and is definitely not a flabellata nor a pyrenaica type.

[maggiepie]

]

Ding, ding, ding!  Congratulations Helen, give this woman a teddy bear!    Yes, that looks like A. saximontana, notice the outwardly splayed (divergent) spurs... yours is the first columbine submitted on this topic that looks correct.  Well done!

Where did you get the seed?  Now, there is also a strong possibility this is a hybrid with saximontana, particularly if it came from garden grown seed, but it at least has the right look and is definitely not a flabellata nor a pyrenaica type.

Well there's murphy for you, the plant appears to have carked it!!! 

I think the seed came from Alplains, the writing on the label has gone. Grrrrrr ( I did get some from various seed exchanges too)
There are more of them that haven't flowered yet but the plants have stayed tiny and I fear they will not survive winter.

[Great Moravian]

Aquilegia pyrenaica subsp. discolor	Aquilegia saximontana

Interesting comparison of the two often misidentified plants.
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Aquilegia pyrenaica subsp. discolor exists in a concolorous variant too.
http://www.asturnatura.com/fotografia/flora/aquilegia-pyrenaica-subsp-discolor/9511.html

[Great Moravian]

It might be interesting to share information concerning the cultivation of A. saximontana.
It is probably not straightforward assuming common use of easier species instead.
The cultivars of A. flabellata thrive in any non-extreme garden position.
A. pyrenaica subsp. pyrenaica and subsp. discolor require a stony substrate.
Limestone in mountains but anything in the garden.

[Great Moravian]

Flora iberica
http://www.floraiberica.es/floraiberica/texto/pdfs/01_036_20_Aquilegia.pdf
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At a sister society-
http://nargs.org/nargswiki/tiki-browse_image.php?imageId=816 A. laramiensis by Lori Skulski
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=151.0
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Edited to an effeminate wording by Maggi Young ... sister society.

[Lori S.]

At a sister society-
http://nargs.org/nargswiki/show_image.php?id=816&scalesize=o

This one, which is my trough plant, is A. laramiensis, not A. saximontana... unless you are saying it is something else?

[Great Moravian]

At a sister society-
http://nargs.org/nargswiki/show_image.php?id=816&scalesize=o

This one, which is my trough plant, is A. laramiensis, not A. saximontana... unless you are saying it is something else?

Yes, it might be, but A. laramiensis was discussed above too. I would appreciate if you would share the image if possible.

jn

[Lori S.]

Yes, it might be, but A. laramiensis was discussed above too. I would appreciate if you would share the image if possible.
jn

Yes, it's certainly no problem to share the image.  (I wouldn't post photos on the internet if I felt otherwise!    Since you have linked to the photo, I assume there is no need for me to post it here as well.   I was just surprised to see that the title, etc. from the NARGS photo site did not come across with it.  

Of course, I'm curious now about your comment that "Yes, it might be...".  Are you thinking it is not A. laramiensis, or that it is a similar-looking hybrid of... something?  Isn't A. laramiensis supposed to be very indisposed to hybridizing?  
Well, at any rate, I bought the plant in 1998 and it has been seeding itself around the trough since then.  I don't have any photos from that far back, but the photos from 2004 look the same as the recent ones, anyway...

[TheOnionMan]

I have the pleasure to post some beautiful photos of Aquilegia saximontana taken by Jane Hendrix, of Breckenridge, Colorado, a purveyor and wonderful photographer of North American native flora, particularly Rocky Mountain alpines.  One can only imagine what it must be like to live and garden at 10,000' elevation, in such close proximity to an amazing alpine flora.  Her extensive photo albums in the following link show many wonderful Rocky Mountain wildflowers and alpines:
http://www.picturetrail.com/hendrix

It is my privilege to show these photos that capture the unique essence and characteristic of the true A. saximontana.  Here again, what we see is the dwarf yet upright billowy foliage of the plant, and the small soft blue and white flared flowers with splayed (divergent) spurs.

[TheOnionMan]

Following up on the previous post with lovely photos of A. saximontana by Jane Hendrix, Breckenridge, Colorado, USA, Jane has given me permission to post photos of a dwarf form of Aquilegia caerulea found locally among unnamed peaks that surround her 10,000' elevation home.  Rather than paraphrase Jane's description, she describes it well, so here it is:

"Every plant shown was grown from seed I collected at 11,600 feet in the boulder field on the slope of Peak 6 so they are not accidental hybrids.  To be certain this dwarf form [of A. caerulea] was genetically dwarf and not environmentally dwarf, I sited the plants in rich, moist soil.  They all grew lusher, fuller and taller than the ones in the wild but still would be classified as dwarf.  In one photo, you can see the plant's height in relation to the red Darwin tulips (the tulips get to about 20 inches tall in my garden).  The dwarf A. caerulea flowers are as large as the "regular" A. caerulea.  This particular group of seeds produced light blue and white blossoms but since collecting them, I have seen similar dwarf A. caerulea in a nearby rock field with the typical, deeper blue sepals.  When grown side-by-side with the common (pure) A. caerulea, they don't have a chance to hybridize because the dwarf form blooms much earlier than the other one and by the time the tall one has pollen, the little one is making seed."

Thanks Jane for allowing forumists to view this rarely seen variant of Colorado's most famous plant.

[maggiepie]

A very garden worthy plant, Mark.
Did you get seeds?

[mark smyth]

and a wink  from me also LOL

[TheOnionMan]

This dwarf version of A. caerulea might be regarded as A. caerulea var. alpina.

Aquilegia caerulea var. alpina A. Nels. is a recognized variety, in ITIS, USDA, and in Flora of North America (FONA).  The problem is USDA reports var. alpina from Wyoming and Utah (not Colorado) and FONA reports var. alpina only occurring in Wyoming. Using the USDA species distribution, it would be conceivable this variety is also found in adjacent Colorado.
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=AQCOA
http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233500096

Tip: if searching for information or photos on the Colorado Columbine, use both alternate spellings; caerulea and coerulea.

Aquilegia coerulea photos, it seems that some A. coerulea var. coerulea photos show compact plants:
http://plants.usda.gov/java/largeImage?imageID=aqco_004_ahp.jpg
http://plants.usda.gov/java/largeImage?imageID=aqco_002_ahp.jpg
http://plants.usda.gov/java/largeImage?imageID=aqcac2_001_ahp.tif