Columbine, Aquilegia - Flowering Perennials

Aquilegia commonly known as Columbine or granny's bonnet is a spring flowering perennial in a range of colors and bicolors.

They can grow in sun or partial shade, though always do better when shaded for at least some of the day. They naturalize well fitting into mixed planting schemes particularly on the edge of woodland areas, not quite under trees, but nearby so the tree can give some dappled shade. 

They grow to about 24 inches in height and form clumps of 1/2 to 2/3rds this in width. They will frequently self-seed, though if you allow this be quite ruthless in removing extras as there is a tendency to revert to a more wild-type strain with small dark flowers which are not really worth having. Of course you need to let them flower first to see what you've got.

They can also be propagated by division in spring which is a better way of getting more of the colors that you like. Recovery after division can be slow as they're not happy about having the roots disturbed.