I live in the Pacific Northwest and the many fir trees surrounding our property provide quite a bit of shade which is very pleasant in the summer but can make it moister than other climates. The extra moisture can create problems with fungus which I thought was creating the discoloration on my columbines. Each year after blooming the columbines lose all of their beautiful foliage which I thought was just a matter of their life cycle. After a close inspection of my plants and some research I found out that the problems might be from different types of leaf miners and sawfly larvae. Although columbines are one of my most favorite flowers I'm considering getting rid of all of them that I have. Picking off the larva one by one everyday for several weeks and spraying with a bug spray helped somewhat but now the leaf miners are having a field day. Any suggestions for someone who does not want to use chemicals! Or should I focus my efforts on other flowers and bid my columbines adieu?

Your Columbines are beautiful! I'm not sure I understand the problem...

Maybe if you post photos of the leaves?

DaisyI said:Your Columbines are beautiful! I'm not sure I understand the problem...

Maybe if you post photos of the leaves?

Here are a few photos of the damaged leaves and blossom and 2 photos of the bare plants that are left after the flowering is done. I've had luck cutting back the bare stems and new growth coming out but within a week the foliage is again diseased and covered with sawfly larvae. Any suggestions?

I am not the person to respond as I don't see sawflies or damage. I do see leaf miner and something that looks like mildew. But, I don't usually worry about the bugs in my yard and so, would be inclined to do nothing but enjoy my columbines. Maybe plant more of other types of plants to take the pressure off the columbines.

In my area, columbine tend to be ratty after finishing blooming.
When I ignore them... I get lots of pretty bloom again in the spring.
I find that by planting tons of different kinds of plants, I can focus on the stuff that looks pretty now.... And not get caught up worrying about what looks poor. Sometimes.... You just gotta recognize that the garden can't possibly look like those magazine photos.

DaisyI said:I am not the person to respond as I don't see sawflies or damage. I do see leaf miner and something that looks like mildew. But, I don't usually worry about the bugs in my yard and so, would be inclined to do nothing but enjoy my columbines. Maybe plant more of other types of plants to take the pressure off the columbines.

Thanks for the comments. By the way, I like your quote about living life to the fullest.

stone said:In my area, columbine tend to be ratty after finishing blooming.
When I ignore them... I get lots of pretty bloom again in the spring.
I find that by planting tons of different kinds of plants, I can focus on the stuff that looks pretty now.... And not get caught up worrying about what looks poor. Sometimes.... You just gotta recognize that the garden can't possibly look like those magazine photos.

Thanks for the advice. I went to your blog....looks great.

as above, I enjoy the spring bloom and ignore the rest.