I get a lot of pleasure from visiting gardens, independent nurseries, and the garden centers at the big box stores. It's so enjoyable to see the wide variety of plant material available. I've realized that I can't grow everything in my own garden so can appreciate it in friends gardens and nurseries. Here are some Columbines I saw yesterday.

Paul, thank you for visiting the nurseries and taking great pictures to share! They are beautiful! I love columbines.

My pleasure.......

My columbines aren't even budded yet, but I have several varieties and I planted about a dozen more varieties last fall. Sadly, they have not germinated yet, but I'm just keeping them moist and hoping!!!

Arlene, did you plant them inside or out? The seeds germinate a lot better with a period of cold.

Paul, all are beautiful!! I love Columbines and I sure would love to have the one in the last photo, so pretty.

Thanks Margaret...

Sue, I planted outside last fall. Ground is pretty crusty so that could be a problem. I'm trying to keep it moist and I scratched in a bit of perlite and peat to see if that helps.

Arlene, I bet they'll show up soon.
Paul, beautiful pictures! Columbines are so cheerful! I like the blue ones too.

WOW Paul.
I just planted Bluebird andMcKennas mix last summer.Waiting for beauty here.

Those are all in a greenhouse? Or are they that far along in Utah???
I sowed several kinds last fall, but won't see seedlings for awhile here.

They are at the garden center at Home Depot. They have been raised in a green house I'm certain and will be out of bloom long before the ones in the gardens here bloom. Nice to see them though.

Paul, I do the same thing. If it's a dreary day, or just a bad day for any reason, I love to go to a greenhouse and just soak up the color. I can feel my muscles relax, and joy filling my body as I walk down aisles of blooming plants. In the midst of an icestorm here this week, a nursery near me got in a shipment of annuals. They had to bring them all indoors and the color explosion was incredible. Bright and wild zinnias, gerberas, snapdragons, pansies, petunias looked like tables full of smiling faces.
Our HD had the songbird columbines also, and they are a good buy this year. A few years ago, that series was fairly expensive. Is the red one named Cardinal? It's my favorite. I had one under a pink flowering crabapple.

The plants were just labeled Columbine but now you mention it I bet they are the Songbird series. I enjoy the smell of the air and the humidity, Great on winter days. Now it is spring I need to go to see what they have in new.

I wish I lived closer to the nursery, of course that could prove to be expensive.

Margaret, it would be rather expensive. But just think of it as less than paying for psychotherapy for depression.

I actually have a lot of Songbird Cardinals coming up and some from last year as well. And finally it looks like a couple of the other varieties are starting to germinate. It will be a long wait to see what is what though because when I scratched in the perlite, no doubt I mixed up the seeds.

Arlene, don't forget to post photos when they start blooming.

My sister gave me a few seeds of an all blue, she doesn't know what variety it is, she doesn't do a lot of gardening. I just started my seeds the other day, kind off late, I've been a bit lazy this year.

I will take photos.

I used to have a lot of columbines from my mother and they always reseeded but somehow they just dwindled out so I am trying to build them back up. I have a really pretty white one that has huge blossoms

I don't have white, it sounds lovely.

I always make sure that I take a few pods and sprinkle the seeds around the mother plant, it's easy to pull up the stray babies.

I can save you some seeds this year if you'd like? Just remind me later, you know, senior moments.