Texas Gold Columbine - Nature Journal

Columbines and I have a spotted history.  I have tried to grow this beautiful  spring-flowering plant many times, and have killed it just as many times. 😢. 

Last year, I planted three healthy young gallon-sized plants.  One didn't make it through the summer, and a second didn't make it through the deep freeze.  Leaving just one lone Columbine.  

So, it was with some trepidation that I selected this plant for my nature journal, knowing full well it is unlikely to be with me for another year.

But, such a gorgeous, random flower!  In full bloom, it reminds me of a cartoon starship, and with its flowers closed it reminds me of a missile.

In studying the Texas Columbine, which is in bloom this week, I realized something new...  each of the long spikes (which I have since learned are called nectar spurs), are actually very long tubes.  

As I watched, a small green bug crawled inside the nectar spur, aiming for the nectar at its very back.

It turns out that these long spurs are designed for pollinators with long tongues, such as hummingbirds and hawk moths, that can reach the nectar.

Curious, I went online to learn more. As far back as the 1850s, Darwin noticed these unusual nectar spurs and hypothesized that the length of the nectar spur and the

pollinators that consumed the nectar was a co-evolutionary relationship. He believed natural selection allowed the properly matching pollinators and flowers to dominate.  

However, in 2007, researchers at the University of California discovered that the relationship is more one-sided.  Columbines adapt the length of their nectar spur to the length of the pollinator tongue that is prevalent in the area!  Super cool!!😲😎

Another interested researcher noticed that the pedicel (the part that holds the flower to the stem) was not rigid, causing the flower to droop downward. However hummingbirds tend to like more upright flowers, and when they feed on the columbine, they have to essentially push the flower up with their beak.  In further study, comparing columbine flowers that were wired to be unable to lift up versus the natural columbine, they found that the process of the hummingbird lifting up the flower resulted in 30% better seed setting.  

I love learning more about the amazing flowers around us, and the intricacies that surround their shape!

After the Freeze

 

It was really a tough winter, with the coldest, longest temps on record.  Every gardener did everything they could to cover their plants, and then just sat back and hoped.  And the first few plants popped their heads back up, and we all thought, "That's great... but is this it?  Has everything else died?"  But slowly and surely, small green sprouts would appear on brown branches.  Many plants lost all of their structure, and only came back from the roots.  My six foot tall pomegranate tree is now a foot tall sapling.  But overall, I'd have to say more came back then did not.  And, weeks later than expected, just this week I saw two small green leaves appear at the base of one of my pittosporum, my fire bush, and shockingly, my bottle brush.

So far, I have lost at least one established Esperanza and three newly planted ones, I have seen nothing from any of my Pride of Barbados.  My Little John Bottlebrush (the hardier of my bottlebrushes) did not appear, but the other bottlebrush did.  Most of my rosemary have 90% dead, with only the tips of a few branches having green on them. I lost two of my Mocha Mangaves, but the middle one is still alive.  And that Unknown Agave in the back side bed turned to mush...

Sadly, none of my established Turks Cap came back, while the small cuttings I had made did.  This freeze really seemed to harm the older larger plants more than the smaller newer ones.  I can only imagine this might be because the snow blanketed and insulated the smaller plants, but not the larger?  Not really sure.  

But overall, I'd have to say that I truly expected far more damage, and while this year will be a rebuilding year, with many plants not flowering, and needing to rebuild size, I am pretty pleased that I did not lose more!