Of course, that last post begs a follow-up note about using non-native plants as opposed to natives. That’s a big one. I love natives, and like to use them because I love to foster as much wildlife (bees, butterflies, moths, birds, etc.) as possible, and natives do that very well. In this case, though, we had so many non-natives — both Norway maples and Hosta tardiflora — already in place, and the corydalis, another non-native, seemed like a sturdy enough teammate to them.
Too, I dislike discarding plants wholesale, and like to see what midline salvage solutions I can come up with when faced with a choice of grubbing out and restarting or transplanting/maintaining in place. We have a big yard, and plenty of opportunity to buy in stuff; I see this particular area as a place to experiment. (I suppose the yard is the lab, which makes the plants my lab rats.)
Anyway, instead of posting on using native plants I’ll just point out that ‘tardiflora’ means ‘late-flowering’. So in spring we get our mauve corydalis bunches, and in late summer we get a lovely foot-high band of mauve bells on the stems that hover above the hosta foliage. It’s a pleasant echo.
Deborah Howe
Toby Wolf
