I used to have a garden and had Columbines in my garden but not this one described.

Adoption of the Colorado State Flower

Colorado's state flower, the white and lavender columbine (Aquilegia caerules) is commonly known as the Rocky Mountain columbine. Its journey to become the Colorado state flower began near the end of the 19th century in 1891 when Colorado school children voted the Rocky Mountain columbine their favorite flower, overwhelmingly, over the second-place cactus. Of the 22,316 votes cast, 14,472 went to the Rocky Mountain Columbine.

Nine years later, in 1899, a Colorado women's club, in Cripple Creek, discovered that the Rocky Mountain columbine had never been officially adopted as the state flower. They went right to work.

Senate Bill 261, declaring the white and lavender columbine the state flower, was approved by the Colorado Legislature on April 4, 1899

Don't be confused by names.

The act names the white and lavender columbine as the state flower without reference to a scientific name. In later legislation declaring it the duty of the citizens of the state to protect the state flower, the white and lavender columbine is referred to as Aquilegia caerulea. In fact, Aquilegia caerulea is more commonly called Colorado blue columbine or simply Colorado columbine rather than white and lavender columbine.

Protective of their beautiful Rocky Mountain columbine, in 1925 the Twenty-fifth Session of the Colorado General Assembly approved a bill that made it the responsibility of all Coloradans to protect the state flower, established rules about picking and digging the flower and defined penalties for violations of the law.

CALIFORNIA POPPY


The California Poppy Was Designated The State Flower

Of California In 1903.

California Indians Valued The Poppy As A Food Source

And For The Oil Extracted From The Plant.

Also Known As The Flame Flower, La Amapola, And Copa

De Oro ( Cup Of Gold ), The Poppy Grows Wild Throughout

California.


Every Year, April 6th Is California Poppy Day And May

13 - 18 Is Poppy Week.

Gold Is A Theme In California State Symbols - The State

Colors Are Blue And Gold, The State Nickname Is The Golden

State, And Gold Is The Official State Mineral.


NO, I Do Not Have A Poppy In My Garden !!!

"They are beautiful to look at http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/mountainlaurel.aspx . They grow best in the wild. The Mountain Laurels are beautiful to see growing wild around and in the wooded hills in Pennsylvania. They are visible driving along the Turnpike which crosses the state horizontally. They are not really a flower but a blooming shrub.

I had all kinds of shrubs through out my property when I had my home. I never planted a mountain laurel as the soil needed for a successful planting is loose and woodsy. A very rich acid soil which is difficult to duplicate in a normal garden setting. But the beautiful pale, pale pink with deeper pink around the center large globular flower with long bright yellow stamens protruding from the center set on an evergreen dark, glossy bright green leathery leaf is breathlessly resplendent peeking out through the Pennsylvania forests."
NDY

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A variety of blooming native flowers herald spring and summer in Penn's Woods. Chief among them is the evergreen Mountain laurel, Kalmia latifolia.

Governor Gifford Pinchot decided the choice of the official State flower in the 1930s. The General Assembly had passed two bills each naming a different favorite shrub-(Mountain laurel and the Pink azalea). Governor Pinchot chose the former and signed the bill into law on May 5, 1933.

Mountain laurel in Pennsylvania normally begins to bloom late in May and its pink and white blossoms are in evidence well into June. Thousands of tourists from the Commonwealth and surrounding states are attracted to the mountains each spring to view this colorful display.

The Mountain laurel is a member of the heath family (Ericaceae). This family of plants contains many of our most common and best-known shrubs including huckleberries, blueberries, azaleas, cranberries and rhododendron.

Mountain laurel is a shrub, which varies from four to ten feet in height, although specimens 40 feet tall are found in some southern states. It is commonly found growing on rocky hilltops.

Its leaves are lance-shaped, glossy and dark green in color, three to four inches long, and are leather-like in texture. They resemble the leaves of the rhododendron but generally are smaller in size. It is one of a few broadleaved plants native to Pennsylvania whose leaves are evergreen and do not fall to the ground during the winter months.

Two close relatives of Kalmia latifolia are also native to Pennsylvania - Sheep laurel, K. angustifolia and Bog laurel, K. polifolia. Sheep laurel flowers in June and July in woodlands of the eastern third of the State. Bog laurel, as its name implies is limited to sphagnum bogs. It is a rare inhabitant of the northeastern corner of Pennsylvania but is more common in the New England states and across Canada.

Mountain laurel is distributed throughout most of the State's wooded hillsides. It is particularly abundant in the mountainous sections and is used extensively as ornamental shrubbery. In the garden Mountain laurel requires cool, moist, well-drained soil. It will grow in full sum or deep shade but flowers best in sunnier locations. There are over 75 named cultivars of Kalmia latifolia in the nursery trade.

There is a persistent myth that the designation of State flower affords Mountain laurel a protected status. This is not true. No one may remove any plant from public or private land without the landowner's or land manager's permission. But there are no legal restrictions on the cultivation of Mountain laurel. And there are many good reasons to grow and enjoy Pennsylvania's beautiful State flower.