An Iowa Garden

Like most shade gardeners in the midwest, I've been suckered into buying (and losing) the beautiful blue Corydalis flexuosa. Popularized by Pacific Northwest growers, especially Heronswood, and sold all over the country by the hundreds of thousands, where it went "eeek!" when July's heat arrived, then promptly turned up its toes and died. I do have one small blue corydalis that refuses to die, but never grows either, and I can sort of grow Corydalis Blackberry Wine. After that expensive lesson in horticultural marketing hype vs. climatic reality, I was quite estranged from the genus corydalis, though C. lutea has had designs on taking over the garden for years. Then on a whim, I bought a plant of Corydalis ochroleuca, with creamy white flowers, and it has been a real keeper (a good thing, since it has designs at least on my azalea bed).
Now I'm just starting to dabble in some of the other species, and have discovered Corydalis solida, one of the tuberous members of this large genus (about 300 species). I just planted Corydalis solida Blushing Girl last spring, so this is the first time I've seen it in bloom, and it is a doll! It is reminiscent of an especially lovely bleeding heart (Corydalis is in the same family as Dicentra). It will eventually reach 4-6 inches tall; it goes dormant in summer. There are also named varieties with red and purple flowers, which look quite striking.
There are a couple of nurseries starting to offer quite a variety of corydalis species, and the pictures show flowers that are extraordinary. If Blushing Girl is any indicator, I think Corydalis will be the next Big Thing.