Hepatica 2020

[Gabriela]

Very nice Hepatica range Leena!

Kris: your large Hepatica clumps look amazing! Did you remove the leaves or rabbits eat them?

[Gabriela]

A friend told me about a place which is going to be destroyed soon and where Hepaticas grow.
I went to look and found some different kinds (but no doubles unfortunately), and because they were going to be killed anyway, took them.
This first one is maiden, am I right? It is very pretty.
Then there were two which had almost like bicolour flowers, but what are the dark spots?
I hope they are not because of virus or something like that, does anyone know?

The maiden is quite pretty Leena, I obtained a similar one from seeds. I never seen dark spots on flowers or read about a disease looking like that; like Herman says, better to keep them away from the others for a while.

It is perfect weather for planting so don't have time to prepare many pictures for now.
One more from the garden - one more multipetal acutiloba


And I made it to the woods, most Hepaticas are almost done flowering but not all
Hepatica americana

[kris]

I remove the leaves since most of them are dead in spring.
Gabriela your seedlings of the Hepatica acutiloba and Americana are in the second year .It may take another 2years to flower. The growing time in Saskatoon is very short.
I love your Hepaticas. I have some H.acutiloba and one H.americana which I purchased are just forming buds now.  But somehow they don't thrive like the H.nobilis.

[kris]

Kris, your Hepatica's are flowering very well! 
I believe 6.Hepatica transsilvanica "Schwanenss"  must be Hepatica transsilvanica 'Schwanensee'

Thanks for correcting

[Joakim B]

Hi here most of the flowers are over but there have been quite good seed set on nobilis an transylvanica. Can the cone of seeds be removed to ripen indoors or can the seeds be taken before coming lose? I have ants and other plants that give debri so it might be difficult to secure the seeds. I am not planning to secure it by having tee bags or similar. Maybe I need to secure it.
Then I wonder if “Selma” is seed proof and also if white hepaticas stay white and pink stay pink or all become blue at least to a high degree.
I have also had nobilis and transylvanica blooming in the same time, is there risk/chance for hybrids? I have let nature do all work and have not secured anything to stop mixing of colours or hybrids. I also had acutoloba blooming at the same time so might be more into the mix.

Should the seeds be sown between the plants or sown in pots.

Kind regards
Joakim

[Leena]

Thank you for the advice Gabriela and Herman. I have the plants in pots, how far away from other Hepaticas do you think I have to keep the pots? When the new leaves emerge I will see if they are normal, the old leaves are very tattered, like in all H.nobilis here.

Kris, very beautiful Hepaticas, your white H.transsilvanica is huge!
Gabriela, so pretty pastel shades. I got one H.americana seedling from your seeds which was just the same powdery blue with white in the center of flower, I liked it very much, but unfortunately I had planted it in quite shady place and flowers opened full only when sun hit that spot and I always missed that moment when I was out with camera.

Here are two more ordinary H.nobilis, blue and pink in the garden last week.

[Leena]

Should the seeds be sown between the plants or sown in pots.

In my garden Hepaticas seed around them and seedlings come up the first spring, but then most of them disappear, I think slugs or snails eat them. So I get better results when I sow them in pots, and after they are two or three years old I can plant them outside and no-one eats them when they are bigger.

[Joakim B]

Thanks for the input Leena
I thought more of winter damage than virus when I saw your photos but I am not an expert.
I have had Hepaticas in pots and they had seeds and I found their seedlings a few weeks ago and transplanted them to where I have the others so during certain conditions there might be smaller plants here.
I did put protection around all the seed heads by using the elastic self adhesive bandage that they wrap around you after donating blood. It is water permeable an took 1 minute to put around the seeds. Time will tell if it was ant proof or if the seeds would fall out some how.

Leena is the plants coming fairly true to colour or do you mostly get blue? Interesting to here more input on this.

I might plant some in place, give away some and place some in pots hoping that there might be some that will generate plants.

Hope all of you get good seed set

[Herman Mylemans]

Thanks for the input Leena
I thought more of winter damage than virus when I saw your photos but I am not an expert.
I have had Hepaticas in pots and they had seeds and I found their seedlings a few weeks ago and transplanted them to where I have the others so during certain conditions there might be smaller plants here.
I did put protection around all the seed heads by using the elastic self adhesive bandage that they wrap around you after donating blood. It is water permeable an took 1 minute to put around the seeds. Time will tell if it was ant proof or if the seeds would fall out some how.

Leena is the plants coming fairly true to colour or do you mostly get blue? Interesting to here more input on this.

I might plant some in place, give away some and place some in pots hoping that there might be some that will generate plants.

Hope all of you get good seed set

Joakim, I plant my Hepatica's mostly in group of the same form and colour. Then the seedlings that appear are the same colour. But the ants sometimes can go a few meters away with the seeds from the original group. When I see that (when they are flowering) I dig them out and put them back in place.

[Gabriela]

Thank you for the advice Gabriela and Herman. I have the plants in pots, how far away from other Hepaticas do you think I have to keep the pots? When the new leaves emerge I will see if they are normal, the old leaves are very tattered, like in all H.nobilis here.

Kris, very beautiful Hepaticas, your white H.transsilvanica is huge!
Gabriela, so pretty pastel shades. I got one H.americana seedling from your seeds which was just the same powdery blue with white in the center of flower, I liked it very much, but unfortunately I had planted it in quite shady place and flowers opened full only when sun hit that spot and I always missed that moment when I was out with camera.

Here are two more ordinary H.nobilis, blue and pink in the garden last week.

Nice colors of nobilis Leena, and I notice there are still Crocus in flower? Here they are out long time already.
Yes, H. americana really enjoys a full sun in the spring (more than acutiloba). I also have problems finding good spots.

Hard to say how far away to keep the pots with problem Hepatica; viruses are usually transmitted via insects, but it is not very usual for Hepatica to get insect attacks, so I would say it is not a great danger.
As you said, when the new leaves emerge it will be more clear if a virus or not.

[Gabriela]

I remove the leaves since most of them are dead in spring.
Gabriela your seedlings of the Hepatica acutiloba and Americana are in the second year .It may take another 2years to flower. The growing time in Saskatoon is very short.
I love your Hepaticas. I have some H.acutiloba and one H.americana which I purchased are just forming buds now.  But somehow they don't thrive like the H.nobilis.

Indeed Kris. Using indoor lights in the garage I can get going some seedlings starting February and it makes a big difference.
It is very curious that H. nobilis would do better than our native species. It may also make a difference if you start with small or large plants.

[Gabriela]

Just a few H. acutiloba from the wild taken a few days ago, the flowering was almost done but the new new foliage is also very attractive. I actually went looking at H. americana in the last days. When temp. start rising here in the spring it is amazing how fast the wildflowers bloom.

This one was actually very fragrant and it was windy so I 'made' a bouquet

Solitary bees can sometimes feed on nectar. pollen, sorry, typed in a hurry.

[WSGR]

Very pretty, Gabriela!

Anyone knows if the seeds of the nobilis are viable please?

[Herman Mylemans]

Just a few H. acutiloba from the wild taken a few days ago, the flowering was almost done but the new new foliage is also very attractive. I actually went looking at H. americana in the last days. When temp. start rising here in the spring it is amazing how fast the wildflowers bloom.

This one was actually very fragrant and it was windy so I 'made' a bouquet
(Attachment Link)
Solitary bees can sometimes feed on nectar.

Beautiful Hepatica's Gabriela. It is a pity that we can't smell it. 

[Herman Mylemans]

Very pretty, Gabriela!

Anyone knows if the seeds of the nobilis are viable please?

When the seeds are fully grown and come loose, sowing them immediately gives the best results. You may never let them dry out completely.