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Re: [PRIMROSES] Companion plants - Corydalis

Regarding Corydalis - there seems to be a burst of Corydalis sp. hitting
the market these days, most from newly explored areas of China.

Corydalis 'Blue Panda' is a sky blue beauty that blooms prolifically, here
in the Pacific NW from early spring (March, or late Feb in warm years -
like this one - we hope) into the summer, staying in a neat clump to about
15" tall and around. It will go summer dormant, in the heat, and comes back
when the weather starts to cool in fall, with another sporadic blooming. It
has been around since about 1988, but is only now becoming commonly
available. We have had customers in the Chicago area that say it has
survived temperatures of 26 degrees below zero with 2" of snow cover.

C. flexuosa 'China blue' is similar, but with a running habit, and not
quite such a sky blue. ('Blue Panda' may or may not be a C. flexuosa form.
There seems to be a lot of taxonomic disagreement about this.) There are a
few other forms of C. flexuosa around -  'Pierre David' 'Award of Merit
form', and a beautiful purple leaf form called, predictably, 'Purple Leaf'.
 With more people growing these, there will be more named forms to come.
These are also summer dormant.

There is a difference of opinion as to which is the best of the blues.
Personally my vote goes to 'Blue Panda' for it's clarity of color, and it's
general habit. But there is not a one I would be without.

Corydalis elata is another great blue species from China, with more upright
stems, with a tinge of red in them, to about 18", with a shorter bloom
period, but intensly fragrant.

I was in China twice in the last 2 years, and saw many corydalis species,
some of which will start to become available as seedlings mature from
various seed  collecting expeditions there, from myself and others.

There are a few species native to the Pacific NW. One, C. aqua-gelidae, is
quite spectacular, rare and totally unavailable, growing only amongst mossy
rocks in cold water mid-elevation mountain creeks, but another one, C.
scouleri, is available and worth having. It grows 3 - 4 ' tall in bloom,
running underground to form great leafy sweeps along shady, moist, well
drained, creek banks. The flowers are on racemes about 10" -12" long with
many densly packed pink/purple flowers. It's really a beautiful plant.

Another really nice, frequently available species, is Corydalis ochraleuca,
very similar in habit to C. lutea, but with flowers of a creamy white. It
is not the prolific reseeder that C. lutea is.

In my opinion, as far as companion plants go, Corydalis is a must have.

Diana R.



At 10:12 PM 12/27/97 EST, Cidjohnson wrote:
>In a message dated 97-12-27 21:40:53 EST, you write:
>
><< Corydalis 'Blue
> Panda'. >>
>
>Diana,  I've grown Corydalis lutea (the yellow flowered one) for 2 years and
>Corydalis sempervirens (a short lived perennial native here) 1growing season.
>How does C. 'Blue Panda' compare?
>
>Cindy Johnson
>White Bear Lake, MN
>zone 4a
>
>
Diana Reeck/Bill Janssen
Collector's Nursery
16804 NE 102nd Ave., Battle Ground, WA 98604 USA
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