Epimedium nursery

[Saori]

I'm looking for Epimedium campanulatum or E. platypetalum. Could anyone suggest a potential source for me?

Thanks very much!

[WimB]

Saori,

I would contact "Garden Vision Nursery": http://www.home.earthlink.net/~darrellpro/. That's the Mekka of Epimediums in North America!

[McDonough]

Since Darrell Probst no longer runs the nursery, and the nursery was relocated, contact Karen Perkins and ask to be put on her mailing list for the spring catalog:

Garden Vision Nursery
email:  epimediums@earthlink.net

PM me if you would like her home office phone number.

Other nurseries with good selections of Epimedium are:

Collector's Nursery (30 types, some of their own hybrids)
http://www.collectorsnursery.com/
http://www.collectorsnursery.com/cat03/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2&sort=20a&page=1

Plant Delight's Nursery, good selection, many new cultivars of their own raising:
http://www.plantdelights.com/Epimedium/products/168/

Many other mail order nurseries have smaller selections of Epimedium, often less expensive than the others.

Just noticed on Plant Delight's nursery pages, that the low spiny leaf form of E. wushanense that Darrell Probst introduced and descibed as "spiny-leaved forms", has received a cultivar name, it is E. wushanense 'Sandy Claws'.  I suppose the name is an attempt at a pun of sorts, sounding like Santa Claus or as kids might say, Santy Claus, perhaps the "claws" part refers to the sharp spiny edged leaves, but "sandy"?  I don't get the reference.  At Garden Vision Nursery it sold for $150, lowered to $125 in Garden Vision Nursery list 2011, at Plant Delight's it sells for $35.
http://www.plantdelights.com/Epimedium-wushanense-Sandy-Claws-Sandy-Claws-Fairy-Wings/productinfo/8861/

[WimB]

Just noticed on Plant Delight's nursery pages, that the low spiny leaf form of E. wushanense that Darrell Probst introduced and descibed as "spiny-leaved forms", has received a cultivar name, it is E. wushanense 'Sandy Claws'.  I suppose the name is an attempt at a pun of sorts, sounding like Santa Claus, perhaps the "claws" part refers to the sharp spiny edged leaves, but "sandy"?  I don't get the reference.  At Garden Vision Nursery it sold for $150, lowered to $125 in Garden Vision Nursery list 2011, at Plant Delight's it sells for $35.
http://www.plantdelights.com/Epimedium-wushanense-Sandy-Claws-Sandy-Claws-Fairy-Wings/productinfo/8861/

I hadn't seen that one, I guess the name could refer to the wonderful Tim Burton movie "A Nightmare before Christmas", Santa Claus is called Sandy Claws in there!

The spines themselves are a "sandy" colour, would that be reference? Combined with the "Santa Claus"-red of the leaves....

[McDonough]

Just noticed on Plant Delight's nursery pages, that the low spiny leaf form of E. wushanense that Darrell Probst introduced and descibed as "spiny-leaved forms", has received a cultivar name, it is E. wushanense 'Sandy Claws'.  I suppose the name is an attempt at a pun of sorts, sounding like Santa Claus, perhaps the "claws" part refers to the sharp spiny edged leaves, but "sandy"?  I don't get the reference.  At Garden Vision Nursery it sold for $150, lowered to $125 in Garden Vision Nursery list 2011, at Plant Delight's it sells for $35.
http://www.plantdelights.com/Epimedium-wushanense-Sandy-Claws-Sandy-Claws-Fairy-Wings/productinfo/8861/

The spines themselves are a "sandy" colour, would that be reference? Combined with the "Santa Claus"-red of the leaves....

Not sure, for me the name doesn't connect with the plant as I know and grow it.  Never noticed if the spines were particularly sandy color, and the leaves are always just plain deep lustrous green, although with leather brown color emerging foliage, not red.  I suspect the name was devised by Plant Delights Nursery, as I see other cultivar names showing a playful penchant for puns, such as their new Epimedium 'Sunny and Share', no doubt a play on the iconic 1970's husband & wife superstar duo of Sonny and Cher, of music and TV fame:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonny_%26_Cher

Cultivar name cleverness aside, there are some beautiful looking hybrids offered at PDN, such as 'Pretty in Pink', lishihchenii 'Golden Earrings', and 'Dancing Stars'.

[WimB]

Cultivar name cleverness aside, there are some beautiful looking hybrids offered at PDN, such as 'Pretty in Pink', lishihchenii 'Golden Earrings', and 'Dancing Stars'.

That's a fact, wonderful plants indeed....it's good thing this particular nursery is located on another continent....I would have bought it empty  

[McDonough]

Cultivar name cleverness aside, there are some beautiful looking hybrids offered at PDN, such as 'Pretty in Pink', lishihchenii 'Golden Earrings', and 'Dancing Stars'.

That's a fact, wonderful plants indeed....it's good thing this particular nursery is located on another continent....I would have bought it empty  

Too funny

I'm also interested in their one called E. 'Chocolatte', here's the link, although the photo is low quality so hard to tell whether the "brown flower color" will show to good effect or appear dull and camouflaged.
http://www.plantdelights.com/Epimedium-Chocolatte-Chocolatte-Fairy-Wings/productinfo/8487/

[WimB]

From the description of E. 'Chocolatte', it sounds wonderful, Mark.
Looking forward to seeing a good quality pic of this plant growing in your garden   

[McDonough]

Fraser's Thimble Farms in British Columbia has a large Epimedium selection and not-too-expensive pricing, although there is a $17 phyto cost (not bad) and minimum order of $50 to ship to the USA (about 2 epimediums will typically take you there
http://www.thimblefarms.com/epimedium.html

They list one new eppie I've not heard of before; named 'Atlas', but no description of the flowers; it is from Free Spirit Nursery, also in British Columbia.  The following link shows 3 new Epimdium introductions by Free Spirit Nursery (why do I get the feeling the marketplace will become flooded with new Epimdium cultivars in the next few years).
Photos of three new eppies; 'Atlas', 'Spring Hearts', and 'Spring Chocolate':
http://www.freespiritnursery.ca/plantintros.html

Fraser's also lists a new Japanese one, Epimedium `Fujinami', which sounds pleasant from the description, but not sure how different it is and no photos are available, it is described as having "soft lavender flowers with wonderfully long spurs having the slightest hint of white at their tips"

There is also Lazy S'S Farm Nursery, with a fairly standard assortment of eppies.
http://www.lazyssfarm.com/Plants/Perennials/E_files/E.htm

There are a couple on their list that remind me of one of the problem with Epimediums; it seems everyone finds a self-sown epimedium  hybrid seedling, and because it's a little different, it gets named! I will go so far as to say, most of the named cultivars out there are not from any deliberate hybridization program, they're just from a self-sown seedling that popped up in a number of individiual gardens and individually got named.  Naturally, almost all Epimedium species are self-sterile, so if seedlings occur, they're hybrids. One being offered is named Epimedium x 'Dream Weaver' to honor Dick Weaver who gave an unbloomed seedling plant to Lazy S'S Farm Nursery, probably a seedling from E. x youngianum 'Tamabotan'.  In their photo link, it looks similar to 'Tamabotan', maybe I'll order it and compare.  Each year I give away many such self-sown hybrids to our local garden club in town (the eppies unnamed of course) because they're not sufficiently distinct or unusual to merit naming.
http://www.lazyssfarm.com/Plants/Perennials/E_files/E_Images/epimedium_dream_weaver.htm

My goodness, I better get busy naming the 1000 of so hybrid seedling plant I planted out in 2011, not to mention approximately 500 self-sown seedlings that crop up everywhere in my garden each year.  Each and every one of them will be rare and highly desirable, and of course, expensive

[Saori]

Thanks very much for the info, Wim and Mark!

I was familiar with the link that Wim mentioned; in fact, this one has been bookmarked as one of my favorites!

Thanks very much Mark for all the info you posted for me. I sent mail to Karen to put me on her list, and hopefully I will get a reply from her.

I am very glad that the Collector's Nursery has returned and is offering plants again. Diana will be selling at our Winter Study Weekend plant sale, so if she has some of what I'm looking for, it would be great! I love Plant Delights as well, they carry lots of things I like and I especially love their Arisaema collection!

I just fell in love with spurless Epimedium! They are some of the cutest things I've ever seen. I only grow five Epimedium myself, but I'm trying not to get too hooked; otherwise I will be broke!

My goodness, I better get busy naming the 1000 of so hybrid seedling plant I planted out in 2011, not to mention approximately 500 self-sown seedlings that crop up everywhere in my garden each year.  Each and every one of them will be rare and highly desirable, and of course, expensive

I would love to see your plants! Do you offer a friends discount?

[WimB]

My goodness, I better get busy naming the 1000 of so hybrid seedling plant I planted out in 2011, not to mention approximately 500 self-sown seedlings that crop up everywhere in my garden each year.  Each and every one of them will be rare and highly desirable, and of course, expensive

 

You really should start naming indeed, soon all the good names will be gone  I'm always willing to trial  some of those rare and highly desirable Eppies for you of course...you really should check how they respond to growing in Europe first 

Do you know if there's a society (or group) which is responsible for the registration of Eppie cultivar names? Like the one which is responsible for the names of bulbs (http://www.kavb.nl/)?

[Tim Ingram]

Wim - I'm with you on trialling these epimediums!! Trouble is the more you grow the more hybrids will appear all over! How do you get on growing them in your garden? I have found smaller plants quite difficult to establish and grow on; once they get going though they make very strong and dramatic plants. After seeing all these details (and pictures) from Mark, though I am going to try more - they are the most fascinating of plants (along with relatives like Ranzania which I've wanted to grow for years but very rarely seen).

[WimB]

Wim - I'm with you on trialling these epimediums!! Trouble is the more you grow the more hybrids will appear all over! How do you get on growing them in your garden? I have found smaller plants quite difficult to establish and grow on; once they get going though they make very strong and dramatic plants. After seeing all these details (and pictures) from Mark, though I am going to try more - they are the most fascinating of plants (along with relatives like Ranzania which I've wanted to grow for years but very rarely seen).

Tim,

I grow mostly grandiflorum and x youngianum cultivars, once they are established they can start seeding very prolifically but since I grow a lot of different plants in between my Epies, I try to keep them in check (they can take over a corner of a garden in a couple of years (not that much of a problem with grandiflorum and x youngianum)) by weeding them away. Transplanting very small plants is not easy...I find it better to leave them in place (when possible) for a couple of years before transplanting....If you have to transplant them as seedlings I try to disturb the roots as little as possible, so I transplant them with a clump of soil. But I'm far from an expert, I got hooked to this genus a couple of years ago because of a friend/nurserywoman who grows close to 150 species and cultivars.

Ranzania japonica is a wonderful plant which I have killed a couple of times in the garden already  And every year I get some new seed started (I have three pots of seedlings of this species, all sown in three consecutive years)   

There are quite a few other plants in that family I like a lot too: Bongardia, Gymnospermium, Jeffersonia and Vancouveria.

[McDonough]

I just fell in love with spurless Epimedium! They are some of the cutest things I've ever seen. I only grow five Epimedium myself, but I'm trying not to get too hooked; otherwise I will be broke!

I would love to see your plants! Do you offer a friends discount?

Hi Saori, yes the spurless Epimediums sure are cute.  One of my favorites is E. campanulatum.  In the link below is a photo of this plant with Arisaema sikokianum sticking up in front  
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=24.msg1984#msg1984
...here's another view:
http://www.srgc.org.uk/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=4769.0;attach=257309;image

If I ever get an Epimedium nursery going, I will look into establishing a "friend's discount"

Here's a photo taken spring 2011, showing a flowering self-sown seedling of E. campanulatum, it looks exactly like regular E. campanulatum; I am somewhat suspicious of the claim most all Epimedium are self sterile, and this species will set tons of seed when little else is flowering nearby.

[McDonough]

Do you know if there's a society (or group) which is responsible for the registration of Eppie cultivar names? Like the one which is responsible for the names of bulbs (http://www.kavb.nl/)?

Don't think there is a registration authority for Epimedium yet, I wonder about this myself.  At the very least, I want to create a web page that has every species and named cultivar reference that I can find, with links to as many images as possible. Maybe I should start an Epimedium Society 

There are quite a few other plants in that family I like a lot too: Bongardia, Gymnospermium, Jeffersonia and Vancouveria.

I like all of these too! 

I have found smaller plants quite difficult to establish and grow on; once they get going though they make very strong and dramatic plants.

Tim, I'm surprised to hear this, as I find Epimedium seedlings among the easiest and most resilient and forgiving seedlings of all.  I dig up self-sown ones all the time, throwing them into a cup bare-rooted, until I get a chance to pot them up of plant them out.  I have done this with perhaps a couple thousand seedlings over the last several years, they never miss a beat, never droop or seem the least bit concerned.  I have shown these following two photos before, but I rough-handle these little Epimedium babies all the time.