Epimedium 2011

[WimB]

The first Epi's are in flower here 

E. x versicolor 'Cherry Tart'
E. x warleyense (I suspect this is E. x warleyense 'Orangekönigin', like the one on the next pic...but I'm not sure, so until I'm sure I'll keep it named as the pure hybrid)
E. x warleyense 'Orangekönigin'
and a very young plant of E. x youngianum 'Freckles' Cc. 950080 (2 last pics)

[McDonough]

The first Epi's are in flower here  

E. x versicolor 'Cherry Tart'
E. x warleyense (I suspect this is E. x warleyense 'Orangekönigin', like the one on the next pic...but I'm not sure, so until I'm sure I'll keep it named as the pure hybrid)
E. x warleyense 'Orangekönigin'
and a very young plant of E. x youngianum 'Freckles' Cc. 950080 (2 last pics)

Excellent start to the Epi season Wim!  We're in suspended animation here, sunny but days so cold and just above freezing that even the crocus aren't opening up, and with deep freezes at night.  

E. x versicolor 'Cherry Tart' is by far one of the best of the newer introductions by Darrell Probst, a real beauty, and one of the few x versicolor cultivars. Not sure if this one is fertile, as most versicolor cultivars are sterile.

So I went digging through my photos of E. x warleyense, and I don't have any good comparative shots of it with the cultivar 'Orangekönigin'.  It is reported that the latter has flowers a shade or two paler than x warleyense, but with darker orange veins, and has shorter rhizomes thus forming a denser clump.  I found a few photos of E. x warleyense, but none that are true closeup views of the flowers, and no photos of 'Orangekönigin', so I will try to get some photos later on.  I do find that regular E. x warleyense is sterile and produces no pollen, on the other hand 'Orangekönigin' does produce pollen. Based on photo dates, my plants typically start blooming the first week of May.





If one grows E. x warleyense in full sun, as I do, the leaves take on beautiful bronzy red and orange tones, whereas in shade they remain bright green.  Also, it flowers much more heavily in sun, making an orange splash in the spring landscape.

For information only:  hybrid seedlings of E. x youngianum 'Freckles' will often inherit the varied leaf speckling.

[Todd Boland]

I picked up a E. wushanense at the WWSW last month..it has 4 flower stems in the basement window.  Suppose to be evergreen but I doubt it will be in my area...not even sure it will be hardy but the holly-like leaflets were too cool to pass up!

[McDonough]

I picked up a E. wushanense at the WWSW last month..it has 4 flower stems in the basement window.  Suppose to be evergreen but I doubt it will be in my area...not even sure it will be hardy but the holly-like leaflets were too cool to pass up!

Todd, that's a great species to "pick up".  I don't grow the regular more upright form (wish I did), but do grow the one Darrell Probst calls the "spiny-leaved form" which is lower growing.  This winter seemed to be a particularly hard text-book winter to challenge the evergreeniness of supposedly evergreen plants in New England.  If I have time, I'll post the results from this year later on. As always however, E. wushanense "spiny-leaved form" came through looking fairly good but with some leaf burn, whereas some of the species I characterize as reliably evergreen such as E. pinnatum ssp. colchicum and E. pubigerum took a total beating... I have already trimmed off the foliage for the spring season.

[Todd Boland]

Mine has spiney-edged leaves...I wonder if it will turn out to be the smaller form.  The plants came from Phillip McDougal.

This 'spring' has been so horrid it will still be weeks before I know the status of plants in the garden.  I expect my dwarf Japanese maple, Sharp's Pygmy, will be toast as the snow is as hard as concrete and still has feet to melt.  Evergreens will probably be fine (no exposure to cause winter burn) EXCEPT for being like pancakes.  Oh when I think of my evergreen ferns not to mention hellebores.

[James R.]

I picked up a E. wushanense at the WWSW last month..it has 4 flower stems in the basement window.  Suppose to be evergreen but I doubt it will be in my area...not even sure it will be hardy but the holly-like leaflets were too cool to pass up!

It is evergreen at 9 Deg. here in Oregon with no snow.
James

[Hoy]

No Epimediums here yet!

Wim, where do you get your plants from?

[WimB]

No Epimediums here yet!

Wim, where do you get your plants from?

Trond,

my Eppies come from different sources. Some from Koen van Poucke: http://www.koenvanpoucke.be/, some from Epimedium nursery: http://www.epimedium.be/nederlands/home.html and some from Darrell Probst. The ones I've shown here this year already come from Epimedium nursery.

[Hoy]

Thanks, Wim. It is a pity Norway isn't a EU member, makes mailing plants very difficult!

[WimB]

Thanks, Wim. It is a pity Norway isn't a EU member, makes mailing plants very difficult!

You're welcome. Does Norway have a very strict import policy? I thought it was exempt from all red tape under EEA (European Economic Area) law? I believe we (in Belgium) may import up to 5 plants from Norway with a rootball without having to apply for a phyto. (I'm not very sure, though)

[Hoy]

Thanks, Wim. It is a pity Norway isn't a EU member, makes mailing plants very difficult!

You're welcome. Does Norway have a very strict import policy? I thought it was exempt from all red tape under EEA (European Economic Area) law? I believe we (in Belgium) may import up to 5 plants from Norway with a rootball without having to apply for a phyto. (I'm not very sure, though)

It is a strict private import policy on plants although we are a EEA member. They say they are afraid of diseases but I suspect the nursery industry and big retailers (in Norway) want the marked to themselves. Live plants is difficult but bulbs are easier. And I can import 50 small packets of garden seeds in one parcel.

[gerrit]

Hello fellow forum members,

This is my first contribution on this thread. Let me introduce myself to those who doesn't know me yet. My name is Gerrit and I live in Holland in an agreeable climate. Mild winters and cool summers, enough rainfall. I am especially dedicated to the genus Epimedium. I started 4 years ago and my collection is extending every year.

The E. season has already started here, due to the very warm and sunny spring so far on.

E. fire dragon grows in a trogue, which is placed against the southwall of the house. Under a deciduous tree. The plants are developing quickly in spring.
E. black sea.
E. brachyrrhizum, the first flowers on one stem. The other stems are not developed yet.
E. davidii 'dwarf form', beautiful big yellow flowers in the same trogue.

Gerrit

[Hoy]

Hello Gerrit! Nice to meet you and your Epimediums! (The warm spring weather stops right north of you - here it is wt spring weather )

[RickR]

Welcome to the forum, Gerrit!

That's a nice selection of Epimediums.  Now I am wondering if what I have is misnamed.  I bought it as Fire Dragon, but the bracts are barely tinted purple, and the buds open in a decidedly different fashion...

This is it:

[Lori S.]

Hi, Gerrit, and welcome to the forum! What beautiful plants!