Botanical Portraits

This page is a gallery of botanical illustration-style photographs. I’m still working on the best way to achieve this, but so far I’m quite pleased with the results. The idea is to give a clear record of how the plants look, and to make comparison between them more straight forward. The process is dictated, to some extent, by the plant material I have available to me: I need plenty of flowers left on the plants to set seed, so I can’t go round pulling them all off! Comments are more than welcome: observations, corrections and suggestions (particularly of the photographic technique variety) are all gratefully received.

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Corydalis paczoskii

Taken on 28th February 2021. The flowering stem is 11cm tall. The earliest flowering stems have grown quite etiolated, but the more recent shoots are much sturdier.

Corydalis solida ‘Purple Beauty’

Taken on 28th February 2021. The flowering stem is 15cm tall. A very reliable early flower cultivar.

Corydalis solida (Early Pink form)

Taken on 28th February 2021. The flowering stem is 15cm tall. This plant was mis-sold to me as a red cultivar. Many pink flowering cultivars are grouped under ‘Beth Evans’. Another plant that I bought as ‘Beth Evans’ flowers later in the year, so this featured cultivar obviously a different plant. For now it’ll have to remain (Early Pink form)!

Corydalis malkensis

Taken on 6th March 2021. The flowering stem is 10cm tall. A good species to grow from seed.

Corydalis integra

Taken on 6th March 2021. The flowering stem is 17cm tall. A close relative of Corydalis solida and just as reliable.

Corydalis solida ‘Purple Bird’

Taken on 11th April 2021. The flowering stem is 18cm tall. Until I picked the flowers to take these photos, I hadn’t realised how few flowers were on each stem. Whether this is characteristic of the cultivar, or a symptom of the dry whether, I’m not sure.

Corydalis x allenii

Taken on 11th April 2021. The flowering stem is 23cm tall. An excellent hybrid between Corydalis solida and Corydalis bracteata. It has elements of both the purple of solida and yellow of bracteata, along with very light foliage.