Corydalis 2016

[Leena]

Thank you David.
Last year I got the real 'Craigton Blue' and it has now opened it's first flowers (it still hasn't quite adapted to the move here and is not as strong plant as my old wrong CBs), and I can see the difference in the colour in real CB and the ones which I had got as CB but which are clearly not. I have two older plants which were sold here as 'Craigton Blue' but their flowers are darker and more muddier blue, so they are some other C.flexuosa. All these plants are now growing in the same bed so there isn't difference in soil. The difference is the same as in the Ian's picture in the latest Bulb log, that is a great picture the show the difference!
It seems to me that the name 'Craigton Blue' is so well known that many blue flexuosa plants are sold under that name, at least here.

[rgc]

Hi
Hope some-one can help me identify this corydalis. It was bought as C. flexuosa. The leaves are dark green and the flowers are blue with a purplish tinge. The problem is that the stems are 1m long which is much more than my C. flexuosa 'Blue Panda' stems which are up to 30cm and C. flexuosa 'Purple Leaf' which are 40 cm long. It is strong growing although the stems have flopped over. It also came into flower later - around mid June.

My hybrids 'Spinners', Craigton Blue' and 'Heavenly Blue' all were in flower in late May. The first two have stems 55 - 60 cm long and 'Heavenly Blue' under 50 cms.

The second image was bought as C. elata although I assume it is actually C. omeiana. It is 80 cm high and the foliage is a much lighter green and the flowers a clear blue. It is only coming into flower now.
Bob

[Lesley Cox]

Heavens! How do your stems get to be so long? Is it just that they are in rich, damp soil and perhaps are forced up by their surrounding companions?

Alas, we don't have 'Craigton Blue' here but I do have som nice photos from 2013.

[Leena]

I have been looking my photos from last spring, and noticed now that I haven't posted much pictures of them here.
So, these Corydalis pictures were taken in the end of April and beginning of May, when they flower here in south Finland.

First to flower is C.malkensis.
C.solida 'Cantata' is the first red to come up.
C.solida 'Pink Smile' is also one of the earliest.
C.kusnetzovii x C. decipiens hybrid 'Drops of Claret'
C.kusnetzovii x C. decipiens hybrid 'Boyar', very dark red

[Leena]

C.solida 'Beth Evans' and 'George Baker' do well here.
C.solida 'King Arthur' also does well, and it is a colour different than others I have.

[Leena]

Corydalis marshalliana is one of my favourites, tall and good, though colour is not anything special.
Corydalis kuznetsovii was a new one for last spring, as was C.bracteata 'Marina'.

[fleurbleue]

So nice pictures to look at when all is frozen outsides...  C. cantata is a beautiful red one. Thank you Leena to share them with us 

[Leena]

You could say I'm a Corydalis enthusiast.
I like reds most, but this first one is blue which I'm going to save. It is tall (30cm) and has very thick flowers, it is like a hyacinth. It is seedling from the first patch of C.solida Penza strain mix I got 2009.
One good white has been 'Evening Shade' which multiplies fast here. I have had other whites too, but they have not been as good as ES.
The last picture is of an unknown Corydalis which has come from Augis bulbs C.solida mix some years ago, but I don't think it is pure solida. It comes up and flowers later, about same time as C.x allenii. It has very distinctive foliage and it holds it's flowers well. It may be one of the best I have. Any idea what it may be??

[Leena]

So nice pictures to look at when all is frozen outsides...  C. cantata is a beautiful red one. Thank you Leena to share them with us 

Thank you . It is the same here, snow and all frozen.

[kris]

Beautiful plants Leena.
What is your winter and spring temperature?
In Canada (my city is Saskatoon) the weather is usually extremely cold during winter months but this year is different.
My Corydalis plants also come out at the same time as yours. Corydalis solida and C.malkensis are hardy here.
Last year I planted C.kusnetzovii and some hybrids .
Waiting eagerly to see them in spring.
I never grow snow drops here.
Tried once before but did not emerge after the winter. If you have information can you please tell me what is the snow drops you are growing?
May be I will try this year.
Kris

[Maggi Young]

Leena- wonderful photos!

 Kris - snowdrops like Galanthus nivalis and G. elwesii  should  grow with you , I think.  Worth a try if you can get them. Do not bother with named forms until you can be sure the "ordinary" species establish.

[Gabriela]

What a joyful sight all those Corydalis Leena!
I sowed few new species as well last year so I can hardly wait, even if there will be no flowers.

[Brian Ellis]

this first one is blue which I'm going to save. It is tall (30cm) and has very thick flowers, it is like a hyacinth. It is seedling from the first patch of C.solida Penza strain mix I got 2009.

Gosh it is like a hyacinth isn't it?  Some lovely pictures Leena, I love to see them with the snowdrops and I bet 'Boyar' looks stunning next to them, I'll certainly look out for that one.

[Leena]

Thanks Maggi, Gabriela and Brian.
'Boyar' is an early Corydalis here (at least last year), so it would be good with late snowdrops. I don't have any snowdrop growing near it, but Brian your comment gave me an idea to plant it next to yellow snowdrops, I think they would make a good combination.
Another very dark coloured Corydalis would be C.wendelboi 'Abant Wine', and I have to move it this year (Leucojum vernum seedlings are smothering it) so perhaps I will plant also it next to yellow snowdrops.

What is your winter and spring temperature?
In Canada (my city is Saskatoon) the weather is usually extremely cold during winter months but this year is different.
My Corydalis plants also come out at the same time as yours. Corydalis solida and C.malkensis are hardy here.
I never grow snow drops here.
Tried once before but did not emerge after the winter. If you have information can you please tell me what is the snow drops you are growing?

Thanks Kris.
Here the winters vary very much in recent years, the coldest is usually around -25C or little colder, but mostly it is between 0- -15C, and usually with quite little snow so the ground freezes deep. Now there is about 15cm snow in my garden, but usually there is more. The winter lasts usually from early December until late March, but sometimes even until April. This year winter started already in November. Snowdrops come up in March (or sometimes earlier), and April is the main snowdrop season here. There are still nights below 0C in April but the days are usually between 0 -+ 10C, in the end they may be +15C or even more. Corydalis solida comes up usually in mid April and they flower until the second week of May, but it depends on the spring.

I think if you can grow Corydalis malkensis and solida, you can grow also snowdrops, at least G.nivalis.  I think it is a matter of soil more than climate, after they have become established. I don't think they mind the cold winter when they have rooted well. For me snowdrops do best when they are planted dormant in the summer, between June and August, or even the beginning of September, but when I have planted them later, clearly they have not had enough time to root properly before winter and then there may have been more damage. Like Maggi wrote, try with G.nivalis or some cheaper old cultivar, and I would suggest you to choose late flowering cultivars. Early flowering cultivars may come up too early and either flower inside the snow or if there is not snow, then their leaves may become damaged by the cold (if it is very cold), but not necessarily. If you get snowdrops closer to home, then you can also try to plant them in the spring, but if you have to order them from far away and they have to travel inside a package for more than a week when they are still green, then they (in my experience) suffer. I can recommend dormant bulbs from Dryad Nursery or Avon Bulbs from UK, the latter sends bulbs later than Anne whose bulbs have done very well for me, and come in August and so have plenty of time to root before winter. Plant snowdrops in the same kind of soil as Corydalis, cover the soil with dry leaves at least for the first winter so that bulbs have enough time to root, and I'm sure they will do well for you. 

[Cfred72]

23/5000
Beautiful collection, Leena