perennials - c

A great silver candle with large flower candles, which are light pink when starting to flower. Decorative, dark foliage, must be planted shady. Large, intensely fragrant flower candles from August to October up to 150 cm in height. Grows slightly more compact than the other silver candles. Slow growing, takes 2-3 years to grow out.

This species is an enrichment for the shade garden, simply because of its distinctive foliage. The fern-like foliage unfolds from very thick, swollen leaf bases, over which the large inflorescences come to rest on stems up to 80 cm high. The single flowers are very large and dark purple. Also an introduction by Chen Yi in 2000, from Central Szetchuan from the Woolong Panda Reserve. Unlike other large Corydalis not proliferating.

2022 update: We have sold this species for years under the name C. anthriscifolia, which is how we received it years ago. After consultation with the Corydalis expert Mr. Herrmann, however, we had to realize that this is actually a different species. It can be assumed that there are other misnomers circulating that can be traced back to the Chen Yi exports.

A new star in the blue Corydalis sky! This species from the highlands of the east Himalaya grows quite slowly and compactly, is also very robust and much easier to cultivate than all Corydalis flexuosa varieties. This species carries large and dense inflorescences in brighter sky blue, but only later than all other blue species from mid-June to August. Grows in China on the slopes of the Balang-Shan at altitudes between 3000 and 4000 m. Fantastic plant.

A species with a great history, very sought after and desired. Introduced by Frank Ludlow and George Sherriff in 1933 and received already in 1938 an AGM from the RHS. Requires an semishady, cool and damp location, grows only about 10 cm tall. Impressive, relatively large flowers, in our variety with unusually sky blue flowers with a darker center. At appealing locations, it forms a dense carpet that spreads slowly and attracts everyone's attention at the height of flowering. Comes from Cashmir to Bhutan out of the high mountains.

One of the earliest blue Corydalis that flowers up to three times a year. He has the largest flowers of all varieties, is very robust and almost evergreen, absolutely extraordinary. The purple petioles contrast perfectly with the blue-green foliage and the mid-blue flowers. This is in our opinion the most robust of all blue Corydalis. After harsh winters, he is the first again in the foliage and starts early to bloom. Unfortunately it grows very slowly, it puts all the strength in the flowers. Was collected by Dan Hinkley in 1996 near the Woolong Panda Reserve at 1700 meters altitude. Simply magical in the secluded rockery.

Very beautiful plant, begins as the first of all blue Corydalis with flowering in February or March and blooms intermittently until the end of November, a fantastic cross of Koen Van Poucke from Belgium. During our visit in mid-February 2016, his mother plants were in full bloom in the field. Medium to light blue flowers with a black mark in the center, unique. A vigorous, compact grower , up to 30 cm high. For shady locations in humus rich, well drained soil.

This beautiful variety was created in 2017 as a seedling from 'Blue Heron' and 'Koen van Poucke' in our nursery. She agrees the best qualities of parents with each other. The very compact growth comes from 'Blue Heron', the absolute flowering strength and robust growth from 'Koen van Poucke'. The foliage is coarser than in 'Koen van Poucke', the flower stalks are decorative dark red, like in 'Blue Heron'. Shortly after the parents' flowering period begins (mostly in March for us) 'Lilli' begins to bloom. The inflorescences are large, dense and numerous; the first wild bees and bumblebees were very fond of them. We named the variety after one of our cats that passed away in 2019 after a short and serious illness.

A wonderful variety of C. elata with dark indigoblue flowers on stems that are stable up to 45 cm high. Of the blue Corydalis, this is the darkest variety. Clearly noticeable scent. It makes stolons, which weave through the planting, so that the flowers appear in many places. This Corydalis never gets annoying because it does not overgrow or even displace other plants. Noteworthy is the enormous heat tolerance and robustness that makes it suitable for many gardens.

A recent crossing from France that grows nicely compact and steady. It is about 30 to 40 cm high and has light blue inflorescences with a lighter center. Sweet scent. Very uncomplicated and robust. Heattolerant.

A compact growing hybrid, which we received from the nursery Staudenfan from Dusseldorf. The flowers are medium blue with a slight purple touch. Like all hybrids between C. elata and C. flexuosa, it is heat-resistant and very robust, a perennial for many planting areas in semi-shade.

This variety has the same good characteristics as 'Spinners', but has an exceptionally bright, golden-green foliage. In combination with the purple petioles even without flowers a striking and special plant. Especially in combination with dark-leaved plants, a high-contrast picture emerges in the shade bed. Forms a cushion up to 30 cm high. The variety was created in the nursery of Susanne and Jürgen Peters by spontaneous mutation in the propagation of Corydalis 'Spinners'.

A vigorously growing, robust variety that spreads in the area. The flowers play between mid-blue and purple on up to 40 cm high, sturdy stems. Strong color contrast between fresh green leaves and red petioles. Highly recommended for the beginner.

A Seedling from the nursery "Pan Global Plants" from West England, found and named by Nick Macer. This hybrid combines the best features of the parents. Best vigor and robustness, combined with excellent flower wealth and the typical C. elata fragrance. Light to medium blue flowers in dense clusters. No runners, compact growing. Like all Corydalis of this type, flowers one month later than C. flexuosa from May to July. Sometimes in hot and dry summers it can be summer-dormant.

A very rare and attractive, large species from China. Forms 30 cm leaf rosettes with strikingly large and extremely swollen leaf bases. Dark gray-green leaf shoot with high-contrast drawing. Large, yellow flowers up to 50 cm high inflorescences. Grows in sparse forests in the Woolong Panda Reserve in central Szetchuan. Not proliferating.

The real clone, first introduced by Reuben Hatch, from 1986. Relatively delicate and tiny, slow-growing and somewhat tender (in hard east-german, continental weather). Sky blue flowers with the typical thin, upward spur for this variety. Dormant in summer. Rather something for collectors, but a wonderful variety.

A clone of C. 'Blue Panda' that we received from Andreas Luckhardt from the Klingel and Luckhardt nursery. This variety is a much stronger and more robust selection than our original clone. In 2020 the plants bloomed profusely, so that we can now also provide more detailed information on the flor. They are the typical 'Blue Panda' flowers, the spur is just a little more curved, the flower color is a little lighter and the inflorescences a little fuller. The plant remains quite small and compact even after years, but it looks very special due to its delicacy.

This Corydalis is one of the natural discoveries introduced in 1989 by James Compton, John d'Arcy and Martin Rix. Strong growing and cushioning. Summer rest like all C. flexuosa. Medium blue, large flowers on up to 20 cm long stems, in cold weather with purple tones. We received our mother plants from Crug Farm, North Wales.

This new introduction is a spontaneous mutation that we noticed when Corydalis flexuosa 'Purple Leaf' was propaced. The purple-green foliage is flamed with darker splashes and the leaf lobes are also much narrower. The flowers are purple-blue and smell strongly of jasmine. Compact growth up to 20 cm height, like the variety 'Purple Leaf' rather weaker growing. Very nice with light-leaved shade perennials. New introduction 2020.

This variety is one of the natural discoveries introduced in 1989 by James Compton, John d'Arcy and Martin Rix. Very vigorous and insensitive to heat, forming a dense cushion quickly. Attractive, blue-green foliage with purple spots. Lies in the foliage color between the siblings 'China Blue' and 'Purple Leaf'. Medium blue, large flowers on up to 30 cm long stems. A very heat-resistant C. flexuosa variety. We received our mother plants from Beth Chatto. Highly recommended and much too rarely offered.

This Corydalis is also one of the natural discoveries introduced in 1989 by James Compton, John d'Arcy and Martin Rix. Weaker growing as 'Pere David', this variety is characterized by its attractive, dark green-purple flamed foliage with small, dark spots. The flowers are medium blue with purple impact, the growth rather compact. Works wonderfully in conjunction with light-leafy varieties. Sweet, jasmine-like fragrance, remontates sometimes.

An attractive, vigorous and most robust C. flexuosa clone of recent date, collected by Dan Hinkley in the year 2000 above Baoxing in chinese province of Szechuan. We received our mother plants from a colleague in South Wales. This variety has relatively large flowers in bright azure and makes no stolons. Wonderful leaves with little points.  It is the strongest and most robust C. flexuosa variety we know. Inflorescence and flowers are very large. Still very new and rare. Great plant.

A similarly exceptional hybrid Corydalis as 'Craigton Blue' also features 'Kingfisher' introduced by Keith Lever of the Aberconwy Nursery of North Wales. It has bright blue flowers as in the best forms of C. cashmeriana, only much larger. Unusual is also the long flowering period from March to October. The growth is very compact to 20 cm high and a bit slow. One of our favorite varieties.

This variety was a breakthrough in Corydalis breeding, as it was the first to combine the insensitivity of C. omeiana with the beauty of C. flexuosa and a prolonged flowering period. This cross was introduced to culture by Ian Young. It grows compact to 30 cm high and has azure to medium blue flowers, is very robust and should not be missing in any shade garden. Clear jasmine fragrance.

A biennal species from western China, where it thrives at altitudes of 1300 to 3400 meters only in western Sichuan. Finely feathered, gray-green leaves with silver-gray midrib. Pale blue to purple flowers depending on location from spring to fall. The overwintering seedlings form a carrot-shaped storage root, from which the inflorescences form in the following year. Safe self-sowing, a garden vagabond for partial shade to shade.

Supplement 2022: In the literature, this species is described as a biennial species, but we were able to determine that the plants behave like true perennials and flower several years in a row. However, these are mother plants that are well cared for and cared for. Our oldest specimens are already five years old and have rootstocks reminiscent of Dicentra spectabilis, which split into several vegetation points and form strong clumps.

A new introduction based on the Chen Yi Nursery from China. It is a remarkably large, robust and very stable species. Due to the continuously branching flower stems very long flowering. The color is a bright blue, the flower lips are pointed, which gives them an unmistakable appearance. Elegant, finely slotted and blue-green frosted leaves, firm texture. Absolutely rare, came from South Szetchuan. Named after Ernest Maire, a French missionary who planted in the same area from 1905 to 1916.

Another variety of this rare species. As with the sister variety 'China Day' is a up to 50 cm tall plant, robust and stable. Due to the continuously branching flower stems very long flowering. The color is a bright light blue, the flower lips are pointed, strong fragrance. Elegant, deeply slotted and blue-green frosted leaves of amazingly firm texture. Still very rare. Named after Ernest Maire, a French missionary who planted in the same area from 1905 to 1916.

The Noble or Siberian Corydalis is one of the larger representatives of its genus. It takes a few years of establishment, once grown it forms an unmistakable eye-catcher in the garden in spring. The gray-green foliage unfolds quite quickly in April, followed shortly afterwards by large, round panicles of flowers. The single flowers are bright canary yellow and accented in the middle by a jet black juice mark. In midsummer, it draws back like a big Bleeding Heart. For semi-shady locations under deciduous trees, at promising locations, there is a moderate level of selfseeding.

A rather rare species comparable to C. cashmeriana. This has medium to dark blue flowers, dark green foliage and spreads also carpet-like. From northwest Yunnan to central Szetchuan it spreads on mountain meadows in 3500 to 5000 m altitude. Our clone comes from the Beima-Shan in Yunnan. A very attractive Corydalis.

A wild form collected at Lake XiHu near Hangzhou in the Shanghai region, with gray-green foliage and bright, two-tone flowers ranging from white to magenta. These are much larger than the sister variety 'Silver Sceptre', the spur is straight and not curled up. This variety blooms approximately one to two weeks later. In the garden it spreads slowly through runners and also delights with its elegant foliage outside of the flowering period. In mild regions and winters, it remains evergreen and only retreats into the thick, bulbous rhizomes for a rest period in August. Very rare.

Also a species that is still relatively new to culture. This particular variety was collected in 1996 by Dan Hinkley in Szetchuan at 1950 m altitude. It differs from the pure species by the high-contrast leave drawing. In the garden, it expands slowly through stolons and also delights outside the flowering season with its elegant foliage. In mild regions and winters it remains evergreen and retires only in August for a rest period in the thick, bulbous rhizomes. The flowers are light blue to white with purple edge. Is always offered as C. leucantha. We received our mother plants from Beth Chatto from England.

The sister variety to 'Blackberry Wine' with yellow-green bright foliage, which was created during the in vitro propagation at Terranovanurseries in the USA. Slowly growing.

This is a special Corydalis, a pronounced everbloomer from April to winter. It remains true to location and forms no stolons, but grows with very long, resting on the ground shoots, where it constantly forms new flowers. Apart drawn, silver-gray lined foliage. Height up to 10 cm, width up to 100 cm, not proliferating.

A very large, but not proliferating species from Szetchuan. The foliage is unmistakably serrated and, especially when budding, is deeply chocolate brown colored. During the summer it becomes light green. The flowers are light pink and medium in size. Good for the dry shade. This species has the largest storage leaf bases of all Corydalis.

This species is of great importance in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) as an effective painkiller. Not all medicinal plants are decorative, but here we find a nice exception. The stretching, blue-green foliage sprout in early spring and form quite attractive clumps of foliage, from which the two-tone flowers then sprout from April to May. These have rich magenta lips, and the throat and long, upturned spur are bright white. At the beginning of summer, the plants retreat into their pea- to cherry-sized tubers until the following year. Extremely rare in the western hemisphere and never available as a living plant.

You don't have to be in league with evil to like this plant or have it in your garden. We have been traveling to France and England for years and admired this plant, some of which grow in the ditches. We wanted something like that too! After a series of tests, we found a really (!) hardy one in the "Lucifer" variety, which not only survived our harsh East Saxon winters with severe frost, but also withstood them well. A location in full sun in strong soil is ideal, as they grow particularly luxuriantly here (almost shoulder-high next to our chicken coop - an unforgettable sight). In midsummer, the glowing red panicles of flowers unfold on very dark stalks, a quite contrasting picture. With the first heavy night frosts, the plants move in in late autumn, only to sprout their gladiolus-like foliage in the course of April. Fantastic plant!!!