Product Review

This blue beauty grows on the meadows and cliffs of Colorado's Rocky Mountains, and was adopted as its official state flower in 1899 after winning the vote of the state's school children. Edwin James, a botanist for the one of the first climbing expeditions to Pike's Peak, first discovered and described this alpine flower in 1820; it grows at an altitude range of 10,000-13,000 feet, establishing itself on rocky slopes or cliffs. Since this species has become increasingly rare in the wild, Colorado law asks its citizens to protect the flower's growth. The name "columbine" is derived from the Latin "columba," or dove, since an upside down bloom looks like a circle of doves around a fountain. The Latin genus name "Aquilegia" means "eagle," since the spikes on the back of the flower look like an eagle's talons.