Corydalis

Posts

• AnniD Posts: 12,585

  29 February

  I have Beth Evans and Blackberry Wine but never seem to have success with any blue ones @ViewAhead.
  Sorry, l know it doesn't answer your question, but they might fit in with your scheme.
  
  As for lutea, l bought one plant years ago, and its offspring are all around my garden, across the road and potted up for plant sales etc every year 😁.

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• GardenerSuze Posts: 5,692

  29 February edited 29 February

  I grow Corydalis Solida. It grew in my old garden too and seeded freely always in the garden some where for years.
  I have never know the blue forms last for long.
  
  C lutea is very different in that it seeds everywhere when happy. There is a cream form which I grew many years ago a far more subtle colour. 

  I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.

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• ViewAhead Posts: 866

  29 February

  Yes, one lutea seed arriving in your garden will start a whole colony. 😁  I have resisted planting it here for 20 yrs, but I might weaken as it is a sweet little trouble-free plant.  Doesn't get eaten, doesn't suffer from diseases, doesn't need watering or deadheading, flowers for yonks, fills little awkward spaces - what's not to love! ❤️  I will investigate the cream varieties. 
  
  I'm glad I am not the only one struggling to keep the blue ones going.  Maybe they are just naturally short-lived and don't replace themselves by self-seeding.  🤔

  
  

  I have seen Blackberry Wine, and there is also Korn's Purple, so I might consider those.  I do love the blue ones though as very few plants have flowers of this colour. 

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• Palustris Posts: 4,307

  29 February

   I met the people who brought in the original blue Corydalis from China, many years ago.
  

  They gave me a piece of the original introduction. For them in North Wales it survived, for me, it died immediately. It has continued to die like that for me ever since. Annoying as there is a plant growing in the verge along one of the  roads here. I walk past it every morning.
  

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• ViewAhead Posts: 866

  29 February

  Oh, I would love to have met them, @Palustris.  I have often thought if I had to choose one plant to become an expert on, it would be Corydalis.  There is a place in Wales that sells rare ones, so maybe the conditions there are just right.  I'm amazed it can cope in a verge! 😯  Just goes to show sometimes cosseting doesn't work best. 

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• DaveGreig Posts: 189

  1 March

  I tried to grow one of the blue ones for years in different parts of the garden but they never lasted long. I gave up eventually.

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• ViewAhead Posts: 866

  1 March

  I can't tell you how relieved I am it is not just me. 😁  I have gone to extraordinary lengths to try to keep Elata plants alive over the yrs, but a couple of summers has been the most I've managed.  I think I will treat them almost as annuals, keep them in pots, and accept that replacements will be needed regularly.  Usually I can find them on ebay for about £5, so they aren't more costly than bedding, though obviously the flowering season is shorter. 

  
  

  
  

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• GardenerSuze Posts: 5,692

  1 March

  I have grown another 'solida' form C George Baker. A beauty but again short lived but I never had any seedlings.

  I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.

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• ViewAhead Posts: 866

  1 March

  Are all the solida ones pink?  

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• didyw Posts: 3,573

  1 March

  I have the white one growing in cracks and crevices around my outbuildings (that sounds grander than said buildings actually are).  I love its billowing flowers, even if it makes the place look even more neglected.  I had the yellow climbing one that did really well, grown from seed, but got it out when I changed that part of the garden.  I too have tried the blue one but never succeeded with it.
  Sounds like a good plant to become an expert on @ViewAhead.  I am far from that as you can tell!

  Gardening in East Suffolk on dry sandy soil.

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