How to Grow Fumewort Plants

 

The botanical name of fumewort plant is Corydalis solida. The fumewort plant is a wonderful shade perennial plant. Actually, shade perennial plants are exciting. Like I said, the fumewort plant is a shade perennial plant and is a non-native perennial that will really add interest to your shady garden nooks with its mauve-pink, purple, or white tubular flowers on racemes above mounds of deeply divided, fern-like grayish-green foliage.  Continue reading to learn more about fumewort plant.

 

Fumewort Plant Info

The fumewort plant was originally named Fumaria bulbosa var. solida in 1753 by Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus and then it was changed in 1771 to the species Fumaria solida by Philip Miller. These early classifications in the genus Fumaria actually help explain why it is called fumewort. The plant was later reclassified in 1811 into the genus Corydalis by French botanist Joseph Philippe de Clairville. The plant is native to moist shady woodlands in Asia and Northern Europe, this spring ephemeral blooms in late April to early May and grows up to eight to ten inches tall. You may be wondering what is meant by the descriptor “spring ephemeral.” This alludes to a plant that emerges swiftly in the spring at the first hint of warm weather and then dies back, entering dormancy, after a short growth period. The fumewort plant, for example, dies back after flowering and then disappears sometime in early June. The advantage of ephemerals like common fumewort plant is that they leave space for other plants to bloom later. The plant is rated for USDA hardiness zones four through eight. The fumewort plant is attractive because it is deer resistant with showy blooms that lure numerous pollinators. On the flipside, however, the plant is identified as an alkaloid containing plant and, as such, is considered poisonous to grazing livestock such as horses and goats, and potentially to other beloved pets if they were to ingest a part of the plant. Unless you deadhead the flowers, be prepared for volunteer plants because the plant does self-seed. The fumewort plant seeds that are produced are shiny and black with a small fleshy white elaiosome attached. The fumewort plant seed is dispersed by ants who covet the elaiosome as a food source.  

 

How to Grow Fumewort Plants

The fumewort plants are ideally grown in a very rich, moist, well-draining soil in partial to full shade. If you’re actually interested in adding the fumewort flowers to your garden, it can really be achieved in a few different ways.