Codonopsis

[Véronique Macrelle]

my last plant to flower this year from the Pseudocodon group: Codonopsis vinciflora or Pseudocodon vinciflorum. this is a first flowering for this species.
this plant was very slow to get going in spring, but is now perhaps showing more vigour. its flower buds do not have the sepals fused around the corolla
 the flower stalks are thicker and longer, which means that the flower stretches upwards. there are no velvety hairs in the centre and no violet rings. it is a more intense violet-blue.

[Véronique Macrelle]

perhaps it's interesting to put the 3 Pseudocodon side by side...
 although I'm not really sure that the second and third (perhaps grey-wilsonii, after all) are really different.

[MarcR]

Véronique,

The Pseudocodon are interesting and beautiful.  The inflorescences are quite different from most codonopsis.

[Bob A]

I’ve just been alerted to these posts by a friend and am only too happy to help another Codonopsis grower if I can. Firstly please refer to www.codonopsisplants.co.uk where, as Carolyn says, there is lots of helpful information on growing and identifying them.
Specifically, C.gracilis should be treated as a tender biennial and always collect seed if you can to ensure its survival. It is a wonderful plant and worth the effort.
You may be able to maintain C.kawakamii in the garden but here in the UK I also treat that as tender, although perennial.
The Pseudocodons can be a little tricky but there are four that are regularly grown and, once you know them, you’re well on the way. P.vinciflorus has smaller flowers with the distinctive calyx lobes as you have noted. It has the best colour of all of them. P.convolulaceus ssp forrestii is usually the last to flower with large paler flowers and a very dark centre. P.grey-wilsonii has a distinctive purple ring on the blue flower and the pure white form, P.grey-wilsonii Himal Snow, rarely has a purple ring. Certainly I’ve never seen one so your pale form is very interesting.
The seedlings of Cc ovata, cardiophylla and obtusa may flower next year and have almost certainly been grown from seed I sent in last year.
If you’d like to look at the website you can always contact me through that. I look forward to hearing from you further and good luck.

[Véronique Macrelle]

Hello Bob,
delighted to chat with you...
 I've looked at your site through and through
it's superb.

Thank you also for sending your seeds to the CGRS last year: I really enjoyed it.
and for answering my questions.

the pale form of Pseudocodon is light blue, not white.

I have another (charming) form of probably Pseudocodon vinciflora (sepal not adhering to the button), even bluer than the first, smaller, 2 cm wide and above all with a more campanulate, less flattened shape: which gives it a tonic appearance.  Its leaves are almost round).
 I photographed it next to the paler Pseudocodon ()que vous estimez de quelle espèce ou sous-espèce?

[Bob A]

We’ve had a completely pale blue form of P.grey-wilsonii and tentatively named it Blue Ice but still waiting to see if it comes true from seed. Your pale one with purple ring is very nice though. Kit Grey-Wilson has told me that he’s seen completely white ones with a purple ring in the wild but not in cultivation. Like all Codonopsis and Pseudocodon, P.vinciflorus can be variable but all are lovely.
Don’t forget, you can always email me as I don’t always check the forum.

[Véronique Macrelle]

Most of my Codonopsis grey-wilsonii seedlings have been resting, so I looked at the tubers produced in one of the more developed pots. I think I've done better than in other years: the tubers are bigger.

[Véronique Macrelle]

in August, we had a peak of 42°C, which fortunately did not last long.
 many Codonopsis unfortunately went into sudden dormancy: all the Pseudocodon, C.subscaposa, ovata, cardiophylla, obtusa, rotundifolia, gracilis...

However, some individuals have resisted, and remained beautiful and green: these are the ones that are entangled in other plants: C. lanceolata entwined with an Ipomaea, C. rotundifolia entwined with a Delphinium caucasicum, protected by its broad leaves and, I'm delighted to say, C. subscaposa, which remains green and thriving, shaded by the wiry foliage of the annual Gilia tricolor.

I think the association has done them a favour by providing more freshness at a critical moment, a question of atmosphere.

I'm posting photos of the large pot containing Gilia + Codonopsis subscaposa (still quite small). Then a photo of the state of C. subscaposa now, in full form and continuing to grow in the centre of the pot.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

[Véronique Macrelle]

while some Codonopsis are completing their vegetative cycle, others are starting to flower, such as Codonopsis lanceolata. as it's a bit late, i don't think i'll have any mature seeds of this species for the exchange. However, I already know that I will be sending kawakami and pilosula this year..

[Véronique Macrelle]

I'm thinking of installing different Codonopsis in my garden, where the soil is humus-rich and drains well, whereas here it's heavy and very mineral.
I've built, or rather asked my husband to build , a raised bed from recycled planks.
and there you have it!
I now need to find more than 2 m3 of humus-rich soil...
which is complicated around here... even the potting soils bought in garden centres are of poor quality. i pull my hair out every year for seedlings.

on the other hand, I can already imagine all the little winter or spring tubers/bulbs that could accompany my Codonopsis.

[Véronique Macrelle]

I received some rare but old seeds (from 2015!): Codonopsis bomiensis seeds.
They will be sown in the spring but as soon as I received them, I wanted to do a viability test. I tested 10 seeds with a few special treatments to try and ‘wake them up’.
Result: 5 seeds out of 10 grew well.
 A sixth germinated, but seems to be dwarfed, and will probably never produce a mature plant.
 50% germination after 9 years in storage! I think that's an excellent result.

the seedlings are growing so well that i feel obliged to pamper them under an artificial summer. but i'm not sure what to do next (a rest or not before the summer of 2025?).

as usual, some Violas have germinated at the same time (jumping seeds in the soil) but I've already found that they make good companion plants, especially for Codonospis which like a leafy environment (of course, climbers!) and also because they attract aphids to them (I still have spontaneous generations of aphids).