Newly ripened seeds will germinate without treatment if sown outdoors in seedbeds or flats. Nursery stock should be set out in the spring or in the fall when dormant. With its dainty leaves and floral bells, it is the perfect complement to a creviced wall or rock garden, a must in the hummingbird garden, and a graceful highlight to a perennial border, where its airy, understated elegance contrasts starkly with the loud, robust beauty of the garden columbine, A. vulgaris . Although in nature individual plants may persist for years, under garden conditions individuals may last only a few years. Wild columbine readily seeds itself, however, and new plants spread rapidly in the garden.
Several cultivars are available in the nursery trade.
Other information Native Americans used infusions from different parts of the plant for a variety of ailments from heart trouble to fever and even as a wash for poison-ivy. The chief threats to wild columbine, which is still common and not in imminent danger of extirpation in Virginia, are habitat destruction and collecting in the wild. For the wildflower gardening enthusiast or dealer, it is a charmer and a temptation whenever it is found, and some of its favorite habitats are the unprepossessing waysides so little cherished and often destroyed. Where it grows Its native range is from Quebec to Saskatchewan south to Florida and Texas. Where to see it in Virginia Wild columbine is a plant of wooded or open, rocky or sandy ground, dry slopes, exposed rock ledges and crevices, and even peat bogs.