Corydalis Seed

New Troughs ready to plant with Alpines

Corydalis solida before setting seed three weeks ago

Corydalis solida seed capsules ripe and ready to harvest.

Starting Corydalis solida from seed is not only economical, it is easy if you are able to catch the seed and sow while it is ripe. the biggest challenge is timing this, since the seed matures very quickly, just two or three weeks after blooming, and just before the entire bulb begins to go dormant – best signalled by the above foliage turning yellow as the bulb releases the stem.

The seed has a tasty white morsel which attracts ants, who carry the seed down to thier nests to savor the sweetness and at the same time, aid one in self-sowing. The same happens to many ephemeral seeds, and even Cyclamen seed. But again, it’s all about timing. The process of mature seed being ripe and the capsule opening and losing all of your seed can happen in about a day or two, I usually miss this event, and loose all of me seed. This year, I was lucky.

Seed is sown about two inches deep, which I do the same day that I harvest. This makes sense, since the seed is also sown into the ground, at the same time. I water, and wait….

After taking a week and a half off to attend a design conference, and to attend to a death of a family friend, a return home reveals tremendous growth, not surprising – since it is May here in New England, and everything seems to double in size each week. ( I forgot my computer cable so I could not post!).

The alpine garden is still in peak bloom, as it is the third week in May – most alpine bloom right after the snow melt, and the most impressive bloom in the months of May and June, a strategy which many high elevation alpines have developed so that they can be pollenated and have enough time to mature and set seed in the short, alpine summers. Last week I planted three new troughs, and a few single trough pots of special alpine forms of Daphne which are more tender. They also are heavy, since they are potted in a soil mixture which is almost all Tufa rock, a porous limestone rock many rock gardeners use to grow their alpines in.

Outside, we are still experiencing cool temperatures this spring – great for the plants, bad for the tan. It reached 44 degrees F. last night again, and June 1st is one week away. It may reach 85 degrees Monday, a forty degree difference which demonstrates how diverse this transitional season of spring, is, in New England.

The most spectacular display in the garden right now are the Primula sieboldii, a Japanese primrose which you may not be that familiar with since one rarely sees it sold at garden centers. Yes, it looks like some phlox species, and it spreads relatively quickly ( certainly not invasively) but I encourage you to join the American Primrose Society and get some seed for it from their annual seed sale, for $2.00 or so, a packet can get you this…… and it is very easy to germinate and grow. Don;t be afraid, getting seed it the toughest part. The rest is as simple as: 1. Go to you super market and get a styrofoam grape or fish box, wash it out, and fill it with potting soil. 2. sprinkly fresh seed on the surface in August or September…..3. Set the trough on the ground or deck ont he north side of your house, may cover it with some gravel or chicken wire to keep squirrels or mice out…and wait until spring, where you will get tiny seedlings. Let these grow for a year, and you can even keep the box outside , forgetting about it for another year as we did, and ten you will get this!

Primula sieboldii is treasured in Japan where it is native, and where there are exhibitions in June where they are displayed grown in specialized pots. We let ours grow out back in the old vegetable garden, where we still grow squash and other vine curcurbits like gourds, These start to take off just as the Primula are going dormant in July. Many woodland primroses are ephemeral, and disappear around the time that the forest foliage leafs out. I suppose that the squash foliage acts as the same way that a high forest canopy does.