This plant has been growing for the past 2 years in my garden in Burnaby, B.C. It came up on its own, surrounded by wild Dicentra formosa (wild bleeding hearts). The growth habit and stem strucure is much like bleeding hearts, but the leaves are similar to maidenhair fern and the blossoms are yellow. What is it? (see attached photo)
It is Corydalis lutea. I love it; as far as I'm concerned it is one of the best shade garden filler plants around.
This plant is also referred to as yellow bleeding heart. It is a beauty, and blooms along time. I do have an abundance of seedlings, but they are mostly around the mother plant and are easily removed. I just transplant them around so I have several little bushes about.
Lovely little corydalis! Can be a rampant self-seeder. I prefer the blue shades of corydalis "pere david" and "royal purple". They usually stay put, too. We also have a native one, corydalis sempervirens http://www.em.ca/garden/native/nat_corydalis_sempervirens.html
Thanks to all of you for your rapid response to my question. I really like the plant. I have lived here for 40 years and have never noticed it before in this area. I wonder where it came from.
And thanks for bringing it up, as I have a patch in my garden, right next to my wild bleeding hearts, and while I knew it was yellow bleeding heart, I had never looked up what it really was. I cut down a maple that was impinging on the house and shading this garden back in February, it has been amazing to see how much growth was going on this year due to the increased light. My Dicentra is huge compared to last years.