Woodland Corydalis

Looks nice, what about the leaves?

A couple of new Corydalis have started flowering the last weeks. If I dig in my files maybe I can find the names but not today. I took these pictures today in lovely weather but still cold nights.

Hoy wrote:

A couple of new Corydalis have started flowering the last weeks. If I dig in my files maybe I can find the names but not today. I took these pictures today in lovely weather but still cold nights.

I believe the yellow one is probably C. marshalliana.

Mark, I am late in following up this thread! Maybe you are right but C. bracteata is a possibility too. The blue one have I found to be C. fumariifolia (first pic).
The second picture is a nice woodland plant C. cheilanthifolia slowly spreading to make a nice clump. The third and fourth picture are still unknown. This one popped up as a stray plant when I sowed some seed of a Chinese shrub. The plant is increasing well and about 1 1/2' high.

Hoy wrote:

Mark, I am late in following up this thread! Maybe you are right but C. bracteata is a possibility too. The blue one have I found to be C. fumariifolia (first pic).
The second picture is a nice woodland plant C. cheilanthifolia slowly spreading to make a nice clump. The third and fourth picture are still unknown. This one popped up as a stray plant when I sowed some seed of a Chinese shrub. The plant is increasing well and about 1 1/2' high.

Saw a photo of C. bracteata on the Scottish Forum recently, and being a nice solida-looking yellow, you're probably right that yours might be bracteata.  The unknown yellow is very nice.  If you know it is from China, you could go through the keys to narrow down an identity, there are only about 500 species in China ;D  But seriously, it'll probably just need to be one of those unnamed plants that one enjoys, I have my share of such things :D  Oh, and I liked the C. fumariifolia, love them blue Corydali.

And Todd, forgot to comment previously, I love that C. speciosa... the red stems really set off the yellow flowers.  Are you growing it outside in the garden or in a greenhouse?

Corydalis ellipticarpa

Peachey wrote:

Corydalis ellipticarpa

Harold, that's a nice Corydalis.  I happened to see this same species, C. ellipicarpa, shown on the Scottish Forum recently as well.  What is your source, was it from NARGS seed?  I'll have to keep an eye out for it... a nice alternative to C. lutea which wants to take over my garden.  Not sure how long you've grown it, it would be good to learn of its seedling/spreading inclinations.

Mark, the C. ellipticarpa came from Ellen Hornig last year.  Unfortunately she is no longer in the retail nursery business.  Still evaluating characteristics of this species, I will endeavor to keep you informed, meanwhile I will try to collect some seed.

C. ellipticarpa certainly is a species I have to add to my collection!
Here is a new one flowering those days, C. buschii. This species can spread a little but I will tolerate that!

Corydalis cheilantifolia starting to bloom.  Now that I have finally gotten plants to stay alive in the garden, they seem to be "taking over"!  :-\

RickR wrote:

Corydalis cheilantifolia starting to bloom.  Now that I have finally gotten plants to stay alive in the garden, they seem to be "taking over"!  :-\

Rick, a pity if it should become a pest! It is a stately plant.
My plant hasn't shown any tendency to spread. When I think of it I haven't seen it at all this spring! :-\

With prolonged cool weather, the various Corydalis can stay in flower for many weeks.  One that has been an exceptionally slow grower is C. marschalliana, a beautiful small upright soft yellow species.  It flowers reliably each year, looking bigger and better this year than in the past. But it has never set seed, so I risk losing it; it doesn't share the propensity of seedling around like C. solida and the white C. malkensis.

Corydalis marschalliana

About 5-6 years ago, I acquired a plant of C. malkensis.  It is now seeding around quite a bit, which I'm happy about.  In this photo, is my original plant, been looking this lovely for weeks.

Also about 5 years ago, I received seed of C. angustifolia.  I sowed the seed directly in the garden, and it germinated readily as do many Corydalis do.  It is a small species, with small unassuming white flowers with a hint of blue, this year finally producing enough flowers to actually be noticed.  Then I noticed that the plant is laden with seed pods this year, looking like red pea pods hanging from the decumbent stems, cool! :o

A corydalis with ornamental seedpods is a first for me!
  Very attractive, Mark, as are all your corydalis.  :o

Is C. malkensis a tuberous type?  And it looks like angustifolius is, too.

Yes, you can certainly grow the angustifolia as an seedpod ornamental! I haven't tried it yet but I will!

RickR wrote:

A corydalis with ornamental seedpods is a first for me!
  Very attractive, Mark, as are all your corydalis.  :o

Is C. malkensis a tuberous type?  And it looks like angustifolius is, too.

Yes, both are tuberous, they'll die down shortly after flowering just like C. solida.

Dicentra cucullaria, in the wild not far from my house.  I have "decided" this is another species that can sit "dormant" for multiple years without showing above ground.  I know this area quite well, and this spring I am seeing at least four times as many plants as I have ever seen there before.  Plants are larger than ever before, too, with flower scapes up to 6 inches(!)

Possible reasons:
--- the ridiculously warmer than normal winter
--- the exceptionally dry late summer through winter
--- perfectly timed rainfall last spring during the Dutchman's Breeches' growth cycle

It's weird that our dry spring has not seemed to affect the plants...

A pinkish form:

Ernie, do you know what the "blue" one in the first picture is?

Rick, those Dicentras were excellent!
But if they have rested several years before flowering it isn't strange they look good ;)
The dry spring do not affect this flowering but the next one - they relay on stored energy.

Rick, always good to see plants like Dicentra cuccularia growing in the wild, to observe the variability in both flower and leaves.  I'm noticing that the degree of leaf dissection can vary a lot; I'll post some photos in another topic showing my plants, which have what i call "extreme leaf dissection", with overlapping leaflets.

Ernie, I have long since given up trying to keep cultivar names on abundantly self-seeding plants like Corydalis solida.  Instead, I prefer to just allow them to self sow far and wide, and enjoy the rich range of color forms that appear, for me, they don't need names, I love them all.

With the cold to cool, dry, sunny weather, these spring ephemerals are hanging around in fine flower for an exceptionally long time. Here's a sampling of Corydalis solida color forms.

Left:  a good red color.  Once you have some good red ones, they'll seed around and give lots of strong red forms.
Right: a young plant, probably 2nd year from seed, a really bright coral red.

Left:  closeup of the 2-year coral red self-sown plant.
Right: another closeup of the 2-year coral red self-sown plant, having fun with my wife's new digital camera.

Left:  pink and purple
Right: my darkest purple form

Left:  received small bulbs from a European correspondant of selected blue colors of the Penza strain. I ended up getting a pure white, a purple, and this single light blue; I'm very happy to introduce white and blue into the C. solida color palette.  Photo in shade.
Right: same plant, photo taken in sun.

Left:  same red-flowered form seen in the first photo, but a broader garden view.
Right: a different red form, sort of a purplish crushed raspberry red color.  Delicious.

ErnieC123 wrote:

It seems to me that you [Mark M.] have tons of plants in it. I feel a little jealous  ;)

I feel a LOT jealous.  ;D

Ernie, I have lots of normal plants, too.  But what may seem common to some, are not common for others.  My comment on the other topic that "such little sprigs of growth brings joy" is a compliment!  We all experience these wonders of nature. ;D

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I just realized I put Dicentra in the Corydalis thread! :-\
I am going to repost the entry to the Miscellaneous Woodlanders thread, where it belongs.  Sorry about that.

ErnieC123 wrote:

McDonough, your Corydalis have great colours and look very vital. I agree that its hard to get a clean labeled collection of Corydalis.
Please tell me how large your garden is. It seems to me that you have tons of plants in it. I feel a little jealous  ;)

Yes, the Corydalis seem to like it here, and they seed around all over the place.  I love the red ones, but when you have them of certain colors, they seed around and expand those colors through the garden.  My red ones started with 'George Baker', but I can no longer be certain of having that named cultivar, what I have are 2nd, 3rd, 4th generation seedlings.  In other words, the cultivar names no longer matter.

Garden space versus land, are two different things.  I have 1.75 acres (the town I live in has 2-acre minimum property lots, smaller lots are "grand fathered", which means smaller lots are allowed by exception).  About 1 acre is useable, the rest of my property is a steep wooded area well beyond the reach of a water hose, so I don't bother.

Rick, I'll look for the continuation of Dicentra talk on the Miscellaneous Woodlanders thread  :)