Tuesday 4 August 2015


Codonopsis are a genus of plants that usually climb up others. The top image is C. meleagris. An unusual and attractively marked flower. The real down side is that it has a horrible smell when touched. The one below is Codonopsis vinciflora - normally an attractive blue but in this case a perfect clear white and the flower 2 inches across. They both have underground tubers and die back to these in winter. They slowly spread undergound but are not invasive. Really useful climbing up the stems of Meconopsis napaulensis like and even M. grandis types while one waits to collect seed from them.