Aquilegia McKana - Columbine

Aquilegia x hybrida McKana is a Columbine resulting from various cross-breeding that has produced large flowers. This perennial forms a clump with elegant foliage, which produces single-coloured or bicoloured flowers from May to July, in various shades. These pretty flowers with a long spur stand above the foliage, carried on flowering stems which showcase them well. With a lifespan of a few years, it often renews itself spontaneously through self-seeding. Columbine grows in ordinary, rather moist and fertile soil, in sun or partial shade.

Columbine belongs to the Ranunculaceae family, which includes around sixty genera, many of which are particularly prized ornamentally: Buttercups, of course, but also Clematis, Larkspurs (Delphinium) or the charming Meadow Rues. The Aquilegia genus comprises no fewer than around sixty horticultural or botanical species.
The McKana hybrids, also called MacKana's Giants, appeared at the beginning of the 20th century. They were obtained by horticulturists through multiple cross-breedings involving notably the species Aquilegia vulgaris, the common European Columbine, A. canadensis (a red and yellow species from North America) and several other long-spurred North American species, such as A. coerulea or A. chrysantha. The result of these hybridisations is particularly successful, as while retaining the lightness and charm of the wild species, this Columbine offers significantly larger flowers, reaching and even sometimes exceeding 5-8 cm in diameter. The plant forms a perennial clump from one year to the next, approximately 50 cm wide, and 60 to 80 cm high in full flower. The foliage is particularly slender and elegant. The leaves are compound, formed of three leaflets, themselves divided into separate segments. The colour ranges from a soft green to a medium green, against which the flowers stand out well visually, and all the more so as they are carried on fairly long flowering peduncles. The flowers appear in May and have varied colours depending on the plant, most often yellow, red, blue, or white. The very structured, sculptural flower comprises a corolla formed of five equal petals, each with a long, recurved spur at the back. The calyx is formed of five equal sepals, and at the centre of the flower are the sexual parts, namely 50 to 100 stamens fused together and surrounding the pistil. The petals and sepals are sometimes the same colour, sometimes different colours, thus giving very decorative bicoloured plants. Flowering occurs between May and July, depending on the region.

McKana Columbine, of horticultural origin, combines a certain sophistication with its aesthetic geometric flowers, and a form of natural simplicity stemming from its distant botanical origin, reinforced by its ability to self-seed where it pleases. Columbines should not be overwhelmed by surrounding plants. You can pair your McKana hybrid with the equally architectural but shorter Bleeding Heart (Dicentra). Geranium sylvaticum, with its single, white or blue-violet flowers, will also be a good companion. In partially shaded situations, you can also rely on the very varied foliage colours of Heucheras, whose airy flowerings bloom at the same time.