I can grow columbines. I have yellow ones Aquilegia "Swallowtail" and orange ones A desertorum. The gophers and voles both find them delicious, but four survive. I keep planning to buy more. I'm betting that its the blue columbine that is the state flower of CO.
Haven't tried delphiniums. Heck, I didn't even try delphiniums in NJ because I understood they need constantly damp soil. I know it's not true of D. ajacis or larkspur, but I thought it was of those gimungus blue ones. - Pacific Giants?
I planted six peonies last fall - plants with big, hefty roots. But somehow they have never been in the path of the watering hose, even though I water carefully by hand. Two survive and they both look terrible. The rest have fried.
