The Beauty of Native Plants

Native plants can bring so much beauty to your garden, sometimes beauty you wouldn't expect. Corydalis aurea (golden corydalis) is one of those native plants that triggers people to say "THAT is a native plant!?". Corydalis are popular collectors plants that are just coming into the mainstream gardening world. They are closely related to Dicentra (bleeding heart), but grow generally lower to the ground and have more tubular flowers. The ferny, blue green foliage and yellow flowers of this species are to die for. Pictured is one of a number of seedlings generated from the mother plant just before it died last year. It was a huge plant rescued from a construction site just outside of town that suffered from severe transplant shock. Luckily I have these seedlings to be assured that the plant's death was not in vain. They are forming a beautiful carpet of blue-green and yellow in my new rock garden.

Woodland Waterlily

The tiny, double white flowers of Sanguinaria canadensis f. multiplex 'Plena' (double bloodroot) remind me of little waterlilies. Previously considered a rare collectors plant, this plant, although still a specialty item, is now much easier and less expensive to obtain. Both the Latin and common names come from the red, blood-like fluid that drains out of the rhizomes when cut.