Epimedium 2010

[McDonough]

Epimedium Hybrid - Posting 1b

Installment 2 of a 3-part message:

Here are some views of E. membranaceum.  See my previous post where I talk about the attributes of this ever-blooming species.

In the first view there is Saruma henryi again (yellow flowers) on the left, Trillium catesbaei, Epimedium membranaceum at centerstage, and just behind it is E. brevicornu mostly finished but still some small white flowers coming and those fuzzy flower stems.  A worm's-eye view of Trillium catesbaei and E. membranaceum in the second photo.  Photo 3 shows a typical inflorescence of E. membranaceum (notice one inflorescence of E. brevicornu in the upper right), and the 4th photo is a detail view showing the sepals... white, lightly spotted with red or pink dots.  In the 5th photo, nothing very different about this photo, but take a look at the date in the photo title, this eppie is still blooming on October 26th!

In the final installment, I will show photos of one selected hybrid, and compare the hybrid's flowers photographically with E. brevicornu.

[McDonough]

Epimedium Hybrid - Posting 1c

Installment 3 of a 3-part message:

In the following series of photos, I'm holding a couple individual flowers of my E. brevicornu x membranaceum hybrid in each photo up against an inflorescence of E. brevicornu, for comparison.  As you'll see, the hybrid has larger flowers overall, the yellow cup is about 5x as big, the yellow spurs are vestigial in E. brevicornu but long and prominent in the hybrid.  In the hybrid, the general shape of the flower and other characteristics, more closely resemble E. brevicornu, thus my belief this cross represents E. brevicornu x membranaceum, not the other way around.

In the 5th photo, we see flowers of both the hybrid and E. brevicornu from the back, to reveal the sepals.  Notice the hybrid has picked up the red spotting from E. membranaceum (two flowers on the left are the hybrid).  Also to note, the hybrid has hirsute flower stems, but not quite as fuzzy as E. brevicornu.  In photo 6, again we see the back of the flowers and the spotted sepals, but we also see some of the foliage which is rounded, minutely spinulose, red-spotted when emerging, thus mimicking E. brevicornu.

In photos 7 & 8, we see views of the young inflorescence of this hybrid in May 2009.  Proving to me that E. membranaceum is involved, is that the flower stems are semi-indeterminate and keep spouting new flowers way past normal Epimedium flowering season; this young seedling flowered non-stop from May to August. The everblooming tendencies of E. membranaceum can be passed along to offspring!!! WooHOO!

I had a few other seedlings of the same cross, not nearly as good.  Many more seedlings are cropping up, but will be a year or more before I see what they look like.  What fun! I hope this detailed summary of Epimedium hybridization (even if the bees did it in this case) sparks the imagination of what is possible in this fantastic genus, now that the gene pool has been so enriched by numerous new species and hybrids becoming available.

[McDonough]

Here are a 3 more hybrid seedling views taken spring 2009.  The first is a nice white with yellow center, I shall be watching this one too.  The last two photos show very nice epimediums, but they're not much different or special.  No matter, I plan an entire enbankment of growing unnamed eppie seedlings, it'll be beautiful regardless whether they're named cultivars or anonymous seedlings... it's all part of the fun.

[McDonough]

Epimediums are literally jumping out of the ground, after nearly a week of rain followed by warm sunshine, and temperatures up to 25 C.  This morning I took these photos of the hairy, muscular, frond-like uncoiling shoots of E. grandiflorum f. flavescens 'La Rocaille'.  And from 2 days ago, on 04-02-2010, fuzzy mass of shoots and buds on E. x versicolor 'Versicolor', and red-tinted shoots on E. grandiflorum 'Red Queen'.

[Hoy]

At home! Here's one of my Epimediums taken today. As usual I have forgotten the name of the cultivar, it is yellow-flowered though.

[McDonough]

At home! Here's one of my Epimediums taken today. As usual I have forgotten the name of the cultivar, it is yellow-flowered though.

Looks like E. pinnatum ssp. colchicum.  The other possibility is E. x perralchicum (E. perralderianum x pinnatum ssp. colchicum), a widely available plant.  If the new spring foliage is reddish bronze with green veining, then it could be another popularly grown selection, E. x perralchicum 'Frohnleiten'.  All have spikes of yellow flowers.

[Hoy]

Looks like E. pinnatum ssp. colchicum.  The other possibility is E. x perralchicum (E. perralderianum x pinnatum ssp. colchicum), a widely available plant.  If the new spring foliage is reddish bronze with green veining, then it could be another popularly grown selection, E. x perralchicum 'Frohnleiten'.  All have spikes of yellow flowers.

Thanks. When you mention the names I recognize E x perralchium, think I have different selections of that cross.
I have tried Saruma too, but that plant was the slug's favorite.

[McDonough]

More Epimedium spring foliage and stems emerging:

1.  E. grandiflorum f. flavescens 'Chocolate Lace' - dark emerging shoots
2.  E. grandiflorum f. flavescens 'La Rocaille' - forrest of shoots
3.  E. x versicolor 'Versicolor' - budding, a few first flowers open, the very first "eppie" to bloom.
4.  E. grandiflorum var. violaceum - emerging growth catching afternoon sun.

[Hoy]

Garden Vision Epimediums can dispatch internationally, although it is very expensive to do so.  There are European-based nurseries with good collections of Epimedium that might be able to ship at less cost.

OK, thanks.
Shipping from USA is not necessarily more expensive than from the Continent or GB. I bought from Heronswood Nursery in Washington a couple of times when owned by Dan Hinkley.
I'll be at the lookout!

[McDonough]

Flowering now and putting on a display more impressive than imagined, is a rare variegated form of Epimedium sempervirens.  It doesn't have a cultivar name yet, it is just referenced as E. sempervirens "Variegated #1".   This form was purchased in Japan by Darrell Probst in 1997, who says it "cost a small fortune".

What a stunner it is, even more compelling than my photos which fail to adequately capture the intensity and nuance of color of the brilliant new foliage embracing creamy white flowers, all hovering above dark leathery winter-evergreen leaves.  To quote Darrell, the variegation of new foliage is supposed to turn "a swirling collage of white, pink, and light green" which last well into summer.

Photos 3-4 show the plant at younger emergence, with deep red leaf tones.  In Photo 5, just two days later, the leaves are starting to expand, they are infused with mottled red and pink coloration    In photos 1-3 notice how the aerial flower and new foliage effect is set off by a low brace of shiny evergreen foliage; looks great in the garden.

I wonder what it'll look like today

[Hoy]

What a sight! I am jealous.
The other plants there, are they Corydalis nobilis and Dicentra cucullaria?
I have also seen some kind of groundcover wood sorrel (Oxalis) in some of your pictures. (Or is it weed .) I grow pink and white Oxalis acetosella and O. oregana in my woodland.

[McDonough]

What a sight! I am jealous.
The other plants there, are they Corydalis nobilis and Dicentra cucullaria?
I have also seen some kind of groundcover wood sorrel (Oxalis) in some of your pictures. (Or is it weed .) I grow pink and white Oxalis acetosella and O. oregana in my woodland.

Yes on both the Corydalis and Dicentra.  The Oxalis is a lovely little weedy thing, but since it only roots in 1-2 cm of soil, it is really no risk to anything, the green trifoliate leaves always look fresh, but the long season of perky little flowers make it special for me.  Now, what species is it... I'm not sure.  It might be O. acetosella or montana    I spent a lot of time on this one, as I've had plants in the past under both species names, but if you look them up (particularly montana) they are typically whitish to light pink and with deeper pink veins.  Mine are solid color, bright rosy pink.  Oxalis montana, which describes the North American plant, used to be considered a subspecies of acetosella.

Soon I'll start a new thread elsewhere on this forum, with some diagnostic detail photos and links, and maybe we can pinpoint an identity.

[RickR]

While I am pretty much content with how my Epimediums perform,  the eye candy you display, Mark, is no match.  What a glorious garden!

[McDonough]

While I am pretty much content with how my Epimediums perform,  the eye candy you display, Mark, is no match.  What a glorious garden!

To be honest, lot of it is "trompe l'oeil", where a camera lens and selective shots and careful cropping make things look bigger and better than they are.  But it helps to have lots of Epimediums, with so many varieties, and a great spring season as this has been, and the Epimediums are leaping out of the ground... they can't help looking so beautiful. Been having a great time the last couple days studing Epimedium hybrid seedlings into their 3rd year, and there are some GOOD ONES.  I've taken a load of photos the last few days but haven't had time to cull through them and start posting some varieties I haven't covered yet... was hoping to do that tonight, but got a last minute IT consultation gig in Boston tomorrow morning, my first work in 6 months since unemployed, so it'll have to wait for the weekend.  Hope I'm not too rusty on IT/CAD stuff, I've been fooling around for 6 months on plant forums instead of keeping my IT skills honed, but one needs to have priorites

[McDonough]

The Epimedium season is suddenly upon us with wild abandon here in Northeastern USA, fully 3 weeks ahead of normal due to a series of weather contitions; an unusually mild spring, a few periods of record rainfall (with flooding), fueled by extended periods of warm and mild dry sunshine, including a couple days of record heat.  The Epimediums are jumping out of the ground! 

1 - 3  E. epsteinii, an evergreen species named as recently as 1994, It is slow to become established, but once happy it makes a striking specimen, with leathery dark green evergreen foliage mixed with orange-bronze new foliage, and discreet panicles of substantial flowers of exceptionally broad white sepals, contrasting with the dark purple cup and petals.  This is a plant that needs to be planted high on an enbankment to best appreciate the beautiful down-faced blooms.

4.  E. fangii - this photo shows a bit of dark green oval evergreen foliage mixed with a small emerging leaflet of rich mottled red... more to come.  This plant is one that Darrell Probst introduced as a hardy growable form from Mt. Emei China, of an otherwise tempermental not-so-hardy species from previous introductions. This one is a "spreader" with long annual rhizomes, so site it accordingly.  It has large yellow flowers.  Quickly becoming one of my favorites.

5 - 7  E. fargesii, a Chinese species that is hard to capture photographically. Long slender spine-edged evergreen leaflets and slender tallish panicles with down-turned delicate white flowers, like little slender white "shooting stars" with reflexed sepals and small grape purple centers.  Enchanting.

8 - 9  E. stellulatum, another Chinese evergreen species.  Photo 8 shows the basal evergreen spine-edged foliage, a nice base to light filmy panicles of starry white flowers with yellow centers, with a haze of spring cauline leaves that are variably marbled red, bronze and green.  In my photos, the flowers are just starting to open. A good one to be sure!

10.  E. leptorrhizum, a Chinese species that is very low and spreading up to 8" annually on long stolons.  As it is, I have not sited it well, must replant it where it is free to create a spreading groundcover without invading neighbors.  The spidery light pink blooms are extra large held close to the textured olive bronze-tinged foliage.