There are at least 470 varieties of corydalis. This plant that is widely grown in China and the Himalayas will make a beautiful addition to your landscaping.
Most options do best in the shade, but others love the sun. Most want to be consistently moist. Many varieties spread by seed, so make sure to choose the right area. Others can be divided from existing plants.
It can be challenging to make a final decision with so many different choices, so consider these 12-outstanding corydalis choices.
Corydalis Aurea
Corydalis Aurea puts on scrambled-egg-colored tubular flowers that have four petals. It also has greenish-white leaves that are feathery in appearance. Each flower has six stamens. After the flower fades, it produces seed-producing drupes that are up to 1-inch long.
Corydalis Solida
Corydalis Solida produces up to 20 purplish-red flowers on each stem in the spring. Each of the trumpet-shaped flowers can be up to 1-inch long. This option has green foliage that looks very similar to that found on the bleeding heart. This plant grows to be about 12-inches tall, but it may die back once summer’s heat arrives.
Corydalis Ambigua
You are likely to love the drooping heads of the Corydalis Ambigua. The tubular flowers on this plant appear in the early spring. The light-green, sturdy stems grow up to 9-inches tall. This plant has light-green leaves that are oblong and have toothed edges.
Corydalis Buschii
Plant the yellow rhizomes of Corydalis Buschii, and be rewarded with beautiful pink flowers in the late spring. This option that usually stays under 6-inches tall loves to be consistently damp. It will grow equally well in the sun or shade, and it prefers balanced soil.
Corydalis yanhusuo
Plant Corydalis Yanhusoa in light soil and enjoy seeing its purple flowers. This option often only produces one leaf in its first year, but it will have flowers in the second year. It should be fed with a liquid fertilizer regularly during the growing season.
Corydalis Bracteata
The Corydalis Bracteata grows from tubular and produces light yellow flowers in the early spring. This plant loves a moist environment and prefers the shade. It will grow to be about 6-inches tall. This option needs a long cold winter. If spring is too long in coming, it may try to bloom before it breaks through the ground.
Corydalis Cheilanthifolia
You will love the fern foliage on the Corydalis Cheilanthfloria. This plant that grows to be about 18-inches tall puts on stems of light-yellow tiny flowers, and it may keep blooming until fall. It needs to be kept consistently moist and loves the shade. If you want to transplant it, cut it back about 50% and move it in the early spring.
Corydalis Flavula
Corydalis Favula is one of the earliest plants to appear in the spring. This plant puts on pale yellow miniature-snapdragons-like flowers. You are likely to love the deeply dissected dark-green leaves on this plant that usually grows to be about 18-inches long. After the blossom disappears, the plant puts on red seedpods.
Corydalis Flexuosa
If you are looking for a plant that thrives around trees and shrubs, consider the Corydalis Flexuosa. This mat-forming plant puts on light-blue flowers in the late spring. This plant that grows up to about 11 inches tall prefers light soil, shade and a moist environment.
Corydalis Heterocarpa
Corydalis Heterocarpa is one of the fastest-growing members of the corydalis family. You are likely to love this plant’s bright yellow flowers with a brown spot on their ends. The flowers also have white specks on them. It often grows to be 2-feet tall and 2-feet wide. While each plant usually has a short life, this option seeds freely.
Corydalis Linstowiana
Plant Corydalis Linstowiana in the shade. This plant prefers moist, well-drained soil. This plant that grows up to 3-feet tall has fern-like foliage with a silver streak down each leaf’s middle. You will also love the purple funnel-shaped flowers on this option. It will bloom in the spring until the days get hot, and it will bloom again in the fall.
Corydalis Nobilis
Corydalis nobilis grows to be up to 2-feet tall. It also grows well in colder climates where many other corydalises do not thrive. It grows in full sun or part shade. This plant puts on up to 40 bright yellow flowers with a purple spot on them in clusters at the stem’s terminal end. The light-green foliage on this option dies bac with the flowers during the hottest days of the summer. In colder environments, it will bloom again in the fall.
