Will my columbines survive a Colorado winter in a large pot?

It depends on how cold it gets where you live. If you have sustained really cold spells, the roots may freeze like they may not in the soil. You could plant it pot and all if it is a hardy perennial and bring it back out when it is warm enough in the spring.

Typically everything outside will freeze if in pots, unless you’re in S. Colorado. They have a better chance of survival in the ground with mulch. My 1st year in Dillon,CO, Everything in pots outside froze in one night! Springtime is deceptive also freezes & snows at night.

Nope. I thought the same thing when I moved here, and everything in pots that were not really protected died. Last year I had an old hard plastic 8' child swimming pool that had cracks in the bottom available, so I put the pool close to the house on a bed of rocks where it could get regular sun, and put about 3 inches of mulch in the bottom of the pool. I really wanted to save the blueberries that were in the biggest pot, so I put them in the middle. All around them went the slightly smaller pots with perennials and bulbs. I stuffed mulch in every available spot around all the pots, then covered them all with even more mulch. The blueberries survived, as did about 3 of the other pots of perennials. I live in Aurora, where it gets quite cold, but nothing like the ski resort areas. They do survive much better through the winter if planted in the ground than they do in pots. I did water them by hand from time to time just as they would if they had a good snow pack melt. We do get a lot of sun, even in the winter. The cracks in the bottom of the pool made sure they didn't sit in water. Good luck.

I lived in Denver for 35 years. NOTHING ever survived the winter in a pot. Nada, Zip, Zero.