It’s been a pretty varied week here in Brum: heavy snow on Sunday, almost reaching -5 degrees overnight; mild by the end of the week, just about getting above 10 degrees during the day. Whilst the weather is changeable, Six on Saturday is not: another Saturday, another Six horticultural highlights. Even more highlights are available over at The Propagator. Meanwhile, I’ll crack on in chronological order:
1. Lonicera x purpusii ‘Winter Beauty’
Here’s the rather lovely fence-trained Winter Honeysuckle (Dierama in front of it) mid snow storm. It started snowing on Sunday morning and this was the result about 2 or 3 hours later.
2. Corydalis heterocarpa in the snow
The garden started to re-emerge from the thawing snow over the next couple of days. Corydalis heterocarpa made a good showing, soaking up some afternoon rays on Monday afternoon.
Next up, a double bill:
3. & 4. Corydalis glaucescens ‘Early Beauty’ and Corydalis paczoskii
Corydalis glaucescens ‘Early Beauty’ 
Corydalis paczoskii
All that snow melt spurred on some of the earlier Corydalis. C. glaucescens looks a bit leggy to me, so we’ll see how it comes along. Last year it didn’t really do too well, not quite managing to flower. It’s certainly made a better start this time around. C. paczoskii on other hand looks a bit more in proportion. Despite the exotic sounding name, it seems quite happy here in Birmingham, and is usually flowering away merrily by the second half of February.
5. Exochorda macrantha ‘The Bride’
Looking in fine fettle; the buds on the Exochorda are starting to swell and show a bit of colour. Like the Lonicera, I’ve trained it against the fence, more to save space than for any other reason. It has a lax habit, so it needs a little more room than I have. I’ve trained a framework of stems back against the fence and let the smaller, flowering branches cascade down in front. I’ve found it quite effective with both the Lonicera and the Exochorda, allowing me to grow plants that would otherwise be too big for the available space.
6. Lamprocapnos seedlings
To add to last week’s Lamprocapnos spectabilis ‘Valentine’ vanguard seedling, a couple have popped up from L. spectabilis sp. too. Interestingly, it looks like one of them has a lighter colour – perhaps a bit of ‘Alba’, or even ‘Gold Heart’ parentage. Either way, I’m pretty pleased to see some more seedlings.
More Six on Saturday’s are available, but that’s all from me. Things are beginning to start to get going in the garden, so do subscribe or check back soon to see how we’re getting on!
It looks so cold….but hopefully spring is around the corner.
The plants certainly think it’s spring! Hopefully we won’t get too much of a cold spell, now that they’re starting to grow. Although I hear there’s more snow on the way…
I love The Bride, she will be all dressed in white shortly. I can feel your excitement as your precious seedlings start to show and have variations too.
Yes indeed! Hopefully lots more on the way – I have a greenhouse full of bare pots at the moment!
Those corydalis look very interesting, excellent plants.
Absolutely. I’m afraid they’ve become a bit of an obsession!
I grow a few Corydalis but you keep coming up with things I don’t know and have to look up. These obsessions are contagious and some of us out here are extremely vulnerable.
Keeps us out of trouble I suppose!
https://www.rareplants.co.uk always has an incredible selection of Corydalis and other bulbs. Kevock Garden also has a great selection. Including a few interesting herbaceous species.
This morning I was just checking out in the garden and new growths of lamprocapnos are coming.
But you’ve done seedlings, it’s even better! ‘Valentine’ is a great choice !
Cheers, the parent plants aren’t quite showing here yet.
You should give it a go – they’re really easy! Sow them fresh in the summer/autumn and leave them to it. Let them have a bit of cold over the winter and they’ll pop up in the spring. They don’t take too long to flower either – often in the second year.
Lovely snowy shots and you have some really interesting plants! Looking forward to seeing more of them in the coming months. Have a good week.
Thanks!
I’d never considered fence-training a winter honeysuckle. Good idea and a wonderful fragrance.
It works really well, I occasionally train in a new stem from the base to replace one of the older branches. It flowers on 2-3 year old branches so you just have to make sure there’s some nice mature branches going each way.
Beautiful pictures of lovely plants. Like some of your other commentators I’m fascinated by all your corydalis varieties. I look forward to seeing the flowers later on.
Thanks! Hopefully the weather will be kind. A lot of them prefer a more continental climate – cold in the winter but then a definite thaw; rather than our cold, then wet, then cold, then warm, and so on! We’ll see how we go.
Corydalis seem to like my woodland clay garden in Belgium, so I look forward to seeing more varieties on your blog, especially when they come into flower. I like your photo of the Corydalis in the snow, pretty, it reminds me of parsley at this stage of growth.
The one in the snow (C. heterocarpa) is a biennial and grows really easily from seed if you can get hold of some (it has nice yellow flowers throughout the summer in it’s second year). I’d be happy to send you some, but I’m not sure how it all works after our rather unceremonious exit from the EU!
I’ve just looked up Corydalis, not a plant I have grown but I do recognise it. I had no idea there are so many varieties. Do you grow them from seed?
A bit of a mixture, some are bought as plants, some as bulbs and some as seeds. Lovely plants, although some are a bit fussier than others!
Lovely snowy shots. I tried a few Corydalis several years ago but without lasting success. I might try again as they’re beautiful. The only one that thrives is C. lutea which came in with a plant from someone else’s garden. Impossible to completely remove
Thanks! Yes, C. lutea makes itself welcome wherever it pleases! As with so many plants, it’s nice in the right spot.
I think they’re well worth the effort – the blue flowered C. flexuosa and it’s hybrids aren’t too demanding, but they don’t like to dry out over the summer.