Re: Killing Corydalis solida

In a message dated 6/3/02 12:32:48 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Blee811@aol.com 
writes:

<< That must be it, Claire!  I put them in my good beds. I think I need more 
 spots with gravel!  Seems everytime we talk about a plant on this list as 
 being hard to grow, you and several others say that your grows great in the 
 gravel drive. >>

Ain't it awful Bill.  There are just some of these small treasures that do 
not do well in rich and improved border soil.  I know that I hauled compost 
and manure and leaves and anything else I could get my hands on and did most 
of the beds right on top of the original soils because of all the rocks here. 
  Only then did I find that some of these little plants from high altitudes 
or arid winter climates do not like border soils.

This does not mean that they can be grown bone dry.  Most of them have a 
natural rainy season so while in full growth, need water.

C.solida is an easy plant and has some very beautiful cultivars.  The 
ordinary purplish one is still a great spring plant.  Plus, this is the easy 
one.

Bill, my husband made a little plaza of flat rocks surrounded by mounds of 
vinca.  He did this because I have a big wooden garden bench and he was tired 
of moving it every time he drove by with one of his big lawn machines.  I 
planted a few things in the spaces between the flat rocks (could be slates) 
and found they absolutely thrived.  The bench plaza is gone and the area is 
now a garden.  This borders the gravel driveway and it is a great place for 
many of these small plants with a special needs.  I am able to grow a plant 
called Lewisia nevadensis there, grows all over the rocks and seeds well.  
Lewisia is a hard plant to grow in the East, mine all grown by accident.  The 
C. solida seeds in this environment.

There is Beth Chatto's Gravel Garden (Wooster) and The Dry Garden by Beth 
Chatto.  Two books explaining the principles.  I think we got started around 
here from the awful soil unlaid with shale and rock plus the nearly four year 
drought we had a few years back.

It is rain again, all week for us.  Tomorrow looks like the only good day. 

Claire Peplowski
NYS z4

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