It’s been a chilly old week, but here’s something to warm the cockles of your heart: it’s Six on Saturday time. Before warming your hands on the gently glowing embers below, why not go and singe your eyebrows off on the veritable furnace of Sixes over at The Propagator. I’ll start with some General Garden Things, before progressing to some Specific Corydalis Things
1. Crocus tommasinianus ‘Death Wish’
An unofficial name, bestowed by me upon the particular variety of Crocuses that grow in my lawn. Each year, they gamely rear their heads through the turf. Each year, they are stamped on, cycled over and poked by my darling children. Each year, I arrive home at some point in the spring, to find the lawn bare of flowers and a random receptacle filled by said darlings with Crocus flowers, as some sort of offering. Each year, the Crocuses eventually retreat, before doing it all again the following spring. If it were me I’d give up.
2. Bergenia cordifolia
Bergenias are truly underrated plants. They never seem to make it on to any Top 10 lists, but I think there ought to be a little clump of this in every garden. They’re evergreen, tough as old boots and flower sporadically throughout the winter as well as putting on a main flush of flowers in the spring. I’ve not really found anywhere they don’t grow yet.
3. Corydalis seedlings
I’ve already featured a few pictures of seedlings, but this one’s a good ‘un: the first of the Corydalis seedlings to emerge. These particular specimens are seedlings from Corydalis solida sp. which itself was grown from seed (germinating in 2016). Corydalis seedlings have the curious habit of only having a single seed leaf, despite being dicots (Wikipedia will, as ever, explain all). For their entire first year they have only this single leaf, which forms a tiny yellow tuber for next winter.
4. Corydalis malkensis
In contrast with some of the Corydalis I’ve shown in previous posts, C. malkensis makes it’s way out of the soil with it’s flowers more prominently shown. The colour (white/cream) is already showing on the unopened flowers. I lost the original plant of C. malkensis, but thankfully it provides lots of seeds, so now I have plenty!
5. and 6. Before and After: Corydalis solida ‘Purple Beauty’
‘Purple Beauty’, being an early riser, has already featured on Six on Saturday, but I thought I’d show it again: heading onwards and upwards despite the snow. The second photo is after the snow thawed. The ground has since frozen solid, but ‘Purple Beauty’ continues to make steady progress.
I hope you are feeling suitably warmed. Don’t forget to have a look at some other Six on Saturday posts. See you soon!
Could you not weave a bedtime story about the crocus to your darling buds, and suggest they made a little temporary protective ‘fairy fence’ around just a few of them? On sunny days when they open up as grassy cafes for passing bees, they could count the bees, and for each ten they count, there could be a cup of hot chocolate? I’ve posted about receiving your corydalis as part of my Six on Saturday.
Did you just make that up? That’s very good! I’ll have to give it a go. Hot chocolate is the remedy to so many problems 🙂
I’ve just read your post – thank you so much!
ou’re so right, Andrew! Self-named plant varieties are remembered most easily!
You’re right too about Bergenia. Great little thing. In relation to the corydalis, I’ll have to take your word for everything. You’re the expert.
Yes, I think we can sometimes get hung up on names. I have a plant I call the Derbyshire Daisy – I have no idea what it is but it’s a spring favourite here!
Why thank you, you flatter me. It doesn’t happen too often.
Corydalis solida are charming plants.
They certainly are!
For reasons unknown Bergenias have not thrived for me, until I got B. ciliata a couple of years back, which was looking really good until this cold spell and is now looking very sorry for itself. Hopefully only a temporary setback.
As I was writing the post, I thought “I’m sure someone will prove me wrong here”!
B. ciliata is a nice one – I hope it picks up. I don’t know about by you, but it’s not managed to get above 0 degrees for a few days round here.
I’ve not grown bergenia but I admire it in other gardens. Looking forward to the summer display of your Corydalis.
I’ve got a couple of patches of Bergenia in the garden. Wouldn’t be without it! I’m looking forward to the Corydalis too!
Bergenias are very well developed here in my garden … They have been there for 20+ years and generations of snails hide there under the leaves too. 😂
We can’t have all the advantages in winter thanks to these flowers and pretty leaves … there are also some disadvantages especially in spring
Very true – they are a haven for all things slimy!
I had to look up corydalis after reading this. Like the others I’m looking forward to seeing them flower. I sympathize with the crocuses tale. I think most have mine have been trampled on.
They’re great, first it’s the tuberous ones in spring, then the herbaceous ones kick in late spring to summer. A never ending source of obsession!
I’ve got a very sweet dwarf Bergenia whose name I can’t remember, but the leaves go a lovely rich purple/mahogany shade in winter. Now that you’ve featured your Bergenia, I feel it may deserve a little turn on SoS.
Absolutely, I’d love to see it!
Lovely signs of spring.
And the weather’s meant to be picking up next week too!
I’m so excited to see your corydalis seedlings emerge. I had no idea you had a shop and I’m definitely in the market for a few more. Are there any you’d recommend for my woodland area. So far I have GP Baker and a blue one that I’m forgetting the name of…
The shop is a new venture – as of this week (a little while before that in the planning though)! There are just a few things available at the moment but there’s more on the way – a few herbaceous plants (as opposed to the tuberous Corydalis that are heading up at the moment) and some tubers and seeds later in the year too!
If ‘George Baker’ does well, then ‘Purple Beauty’ will too – it flowers a bit earlier, so extends the flowering season. C. malkensis is related as well, although it takes a little longer to establish.
The blue flowered one could well be C. flexuosa or one of it’s hybrids. I have a few of these sort growing on for later in the year 🙂