Aquilegia chrysantha comes from the rocky canyons, meadows, and slopes of the western United States and Mexico, where it grows in full sun on well-drained, often lean soils. The specific epithet means 'with golden flowers,' and the description holds: large, long-spurred blooms in clear bright yellow appear in spring on plants that reach 2 to 3 feet tall and equally wide, with a slight fragrance that sets this species apart from many of its relatives. Each flower petal extends backward into a long spur, the characteristic eagle-talon form that defines the genus and earns the attentions of hummingbirds, whose long tongues are among the few that reach the nectar at the spur's base.

Outside its native range, Golden Columbine performs best where summers stay cool and dry; the hot humid summers of the Southeast are genuinely difficult for it, and gardeners in those regions are better served by Aquilegia canadensis. Where conditions suit it, though, it is a generous plant: it tolerates a wide range of soils provided drainage is good, re-blooms when flower stalks are cut back, and seeds freely if some flowers are left to mature. Clay soils can be amended with sand to improve drainage. Deer and rabbits leave it alone. Hardy in zones 4 to 9, it brings a particular warmth to rock gardens, cottage borders, and open shade gardens where most other tall columbines might feel out of place.