We live in a climate of heat and humidity where most of the really cool perennial corydalis fear to tread. One outstanding selection that has thrived here for the last quarter century is a discovery from our friend, Dan Hinkley, that he named and introduced as Corydalis leucanthema ‘Silver Spectre’.
Part of the secret to its survival is that it has the good sense to sleep through the summer months, emerging in late fall and grow through the winter months. Here’s a photo in the garden this week in full flower. We’ve found it very adaptable and easy to grow, although rich, slight moist compost is ideal. We haven’t offered this in a while, but if you think we should put it back in production, that wouldn’t take much arm-twisting.
Another cool corydalis that we love is one that came to us as a hitchhiker (we think), but one that we gladly adopted is Corydalis speciosa. Thanks to corydalis guru Magnus LIden for the identification. The winter foliage emerges heavily ruffled and then flattens, with flowering starting in late winter. I think this may make it’s way into propagation.
I would be interested