Description
Corydalis sempervirens / Capnoides sempervirens | Pale Corydalis
Pale Corydalis, also called Pink Corydalis, Tall Corydalis, and Rock Harlequin, is a hardy annual or biennial. The foliage is multi-lobed and an interesting blue-green color, similar to Columbine, though its actually a relative of Bleeding Hearts. The stunningly bright single spurred-flowers are pink with a yellow tip and bloom from July to September.
They grow between 8-30 inches and do best in full sun in dry, gravelly shallow-soil sites and in open woodlands. They favor climates with cold winters and cool summers. Pale corydalis sets abundant seed. For some folks they become too invasive for their liking, while others wish they came back more. They have a strange tendency to appear and disappear from year to year, which could be based on soil disturbances since the seeds stay dormant in soil for many years. With natural seed dispersal in the fall, or early spring plantings, Pale Corydalis will be an annual. Full sized blooming plants won’t show up the next year, but smaller plants will make it through winter to flower the following year. It is listed as endangered or threatened in several states.
Type: Annual or biennial
Sun exposure: Full sun to part shade
Mature height: 8-30 inches
Mature width: 15-18 inches
Hardiness zones: 6-9
