Firelight Columbine

Firelight™ is a cultivar of the well-known species Aquilegia barnebyi munz (also known as oil shale columbine). It was selected for its blue basal foliage and unique two-toned yellow and pink flowers.

Problem

Plants of the Aquilegia barnebyi munz species typically grow in exposed layers of oil shale where seeping moisture is constantly available or in dry soils in pinyon-juniper woodlands. Typically the blade of the flower is pale yellow and the spurs are reddish pink

Solution

Firelight™ was selected and propagated for its blue basal foliage and two-toned red and apricot flowers held on comparatively shorter stems. These columbines can grow in regular garden soil.

Benefits

Though Firelight™ grows naturally on oil shale substrates of the Uinta and Piceance Basins of northeastern Utah and northwestern Colorado, it can live for many years in regular garden soils. It is easily produced from seed, lacks weediness, and withstands exposure to full-sun. It has intensely blue and glabrous foliage that persists through the summer months until frost. Two-toned yellow and reddish pink flowers cover the plant in mid-May and generally last up to six weeks. Firelight™ requires little to no supplemental fertilizer.

Applications

Firelight™ is adapted to areas of Utah, Idaho, and Colorado, and performed well in Fresno, California as well, suggesting that it may be adaptable to areas outside its natural range. It is reasonable to infer that it would adapt well to areas east of the Cascades in Washington and Oregon, California’s central valley, as well as Montana, New Mexico, and Nevada.
 

Contact

---

Questions about this technology including licensing availability can be directed to:

Christian S. Iverson, MBA
Executive Director, Technology Transfer Services
(435) 797-9620 christian.iverson@usu.edu

---

USU ID C21004