I love all the columbines. They come in a tremendous variety of shapes, sizes, colors, and styles, including purples, pinks, whites, and all kinds of combinations. The long-spurred hybrids are prized, but I like the garden variety just as well. They bloom early, and give a lot of bang for the buck. Even though they're finished by midsummer, they have nice foliage so putting up with them for the rest of the summer shouldn't be a problem.

Columbine reseed easily and tend to naturalize in the right setting. About their only hazard is powdery mildew which can overtake them if the weather is unusually wet for a protracted period of time.