Aside from the aquilegia (columbine), and the geranium pusillum pictured above, maybe starting the others on your list from seed was a bit too ambitious. I've had coral bells (which was the name heuchera seemed to have 35 years ago) and split and resplit the original plants many times to increase my stock. I get the wild columbine (Aquilegia Canadensis) in every shady nook and cranny, but cannot get the modern ones to self seed or last for more than a season. The geranium pusillum is a nuisance for me - that will never look better than it does right now in your picture: the flowers are very tiny, they will start to sprawl and become ground hugging, and they self-seed everywhere. I'm always pulling it up and in the strangest places. In all honesty, despite whatever gardening skills I might have - growing from seed has never been one of my successes. Pretty much, the only seeds I purchase are zinnias because I can directly sow them when the soil warms up; they grow and bloom beautifully untill frost knocks them down. Many people have the knack of growing from seed - indoors under lights, lucky enough to have greenhouses, winter sow. I am not one of them - I learned early on and to avoid my own personal disappointment in seeds not germinating, getting too big then damping off, etc., I no longer even try. That does not mean you shouldn't continue to try. Everything that I might need to fill in or replace or want to try, I simply buy from a garden center, big box store, plant sale, farmers market, etc. - those who grow and sell plants have to make a living too - or I split and divide my existing plants. Don't be too disappointed; gardening is a never ending learning process. Even though the failures are hard they just make the successes all the sweeter.

IF you get one of those roots, and IF you plant it right away, you might get a plant. The roots I see at those Big Box stores are usually about 1/2 dead. They get them in in Feb and let them wither. Seeds from A. canadensis are usually available from people with a trade list on these boards. Doing a search for them will also yield a bunch of results. Once you have some, they are usually self sowing if the conditions are right. (Well draining soil, sort of humus-y, some shade appreciated.) Sometimes seeds sown in early spring bloom late summer, most times not until early the following year. And yes, a good healthy root transplant almost always blooms the year you plant it. I bet a decent nursery in your area has some already in a pot so that you don't have to depend on bare roots of questionable quality from a mass merchandiser. If you do decide to go the Lowes/HD route, make sure the roots you get are pliable and have some foliage emerging from the top. Here in Z6 (PA), the first leaves are already emerging on my outside plants. Indoor roots should have a whole green crown to show.

No deer tracks in the yard or in or near the bed as that was the first thing I looked for since there are deer that come around during the winter. I don't normally have bunnies any more since we got our black lab. This morning there was a hole about 3 inches in diameter approx. 12 inches away from the eaten plant. I put a stick in the hole but it was very shallow only about 3 or 4 inches deep in any direction and becuase of shrub roots the stick wouldn't go any further. I know it isn't a mole as they are insect eaters. I don't think it is a vole because the plant was too big for a vole to eat the whole thing in one night. Could it possibly be a chipmunk? I have only seen one chipmonk in the area one time in the 11 years I have lived here. These are not new plantings and I have never had them eaten in the past. I am totally perplexed. Penny

Ha! Ha! If you could estimate that, then you should know the winning lottery numbers! Seriously though, if you saved the seed from a yellow that was surrounded by other yellows, I think you'd have a high percentage of yellows. But then bees can cover a lot of territory. The trick is ruthlessness in pulling out everything that isn't what you want every year before they get a chance to pollinate others. It's hard though because some will be very pretty. You could move them to another part of your garden if it's large enough and get different seed strains. Aquilegias move easily enough. I used to have cream california poppies in the front of my garden and orange/yellows in the back - a difference of a hundred feet. Now I only have oranges at the back as other front garden plants outcompeted the cream poppies.