Midsummer goings on

The Summer Solstice came and went earlier this week without much fanfare: overcast and distinctly cooler, the extent of the daylight hours didn’t really register. Despite the meteorological lack of lustre this midsummer, the garden is heading onwards with both vim and vigour. There’s no real theme to this post, just a few thoughts.

Corydalis petrophila (and Corydalis linstowiana)

I’ve mentioned Corydalis petrophila before. It’s a bit of a mystery, with not a huge amount of information available about it. As you can see, it’s made itself quite at home: there’s meant to be a path of sorts underneath there somewhere. It seems to me to be quite similar to C. linstowiana, although I think I prefer linstowiana on the whole.

Flowers

• 

• 

Click on the images to take a closer look. Petrophila has a pale purple colour, to linstowiana’s white and blue, but the overall flower shape and structure of the flower stem are very similar.

Leaves

• 

• 

The leaves are similar too, with C. petrophila having a slightly lighter colour.

Seedheads

• 

• 

While the seed pods on C. petrophila are significantly larger, the two species are similar in shape and in the way they hang down from the stem.

Overall, C. linstowiana is a smaller plant, but the striking flower colour means it stands out a little more. That said, they’re both very nice plants!

Capnoides sempervirens alba

• 

• 

Capnoides sempervirens is an annual plant, but always provides plenty of seed. I tend to grow them on in pots before planting them out, as I can never decide where to put them. This year, they’ve been forgotten about slightly and have started to flower in their pots. I’m sure they’ll still benefit from being given a bit more room to grow, so I’ll probably still pop them in the ground somewhere. In the mean time, they are growing very well and looking splendid!

Corydalis calycosa

This plant was a new purchase this year (from Beth Chatto‘s). It comes from the C. flexuosa complex of species and has the same piercing blue flowers, which seem to have been waiting for midsummer as an appropriate time to do their thing. A very nice new acquisition!

There’s so much going on at the moment and I’m barely keeping on top of it all, but this post sums up a few things that have been grabbing my attention recently. Amongst everything else that goes on at this busy time of year, I’ve been trying to crack on with sorting things for online shop. I should have everything up and running within a week, so keep in touch!