Hepatica 2020

[Leena]

Thanks Gabriela for advise regarding Epimediums. Night between Monday and Tuesday will be the coldest according to forecast.

H.transsilvanica grows also here well, and is hardy.
I managed to get a picture of last of the blue nice flower of H.americana.
Second picture is  'Louise Kohler', very pretty!

[Gabriela]

I hope your Epimediums are OK Leena. Two more very cold nights here before 'spring' gets back to normal.

Pretty Hepatica americana and the 'KL' Here H. americana is also nearing the end of flowering. A pure white, a bicolor, and one of my favorite with a nice display of old and new leaves.

[Joakim B]

Nice contrast between the old an new foliage Leena
The two- toned is also very nice.

How long does it take for the seeds of nobilis to develop? They seems to be ready and mature for two weeks to a month now. Are they supposed to fall off by itself?
I really want to sow the seeds and see them come up. Btw is the seeds germinating now in spring or is it a long process?
The seeds and the foliage is the joy now when the flowers are gone.

[Leena]

Very nice two toned blue, Gabriela.

Btw is the seeds germinating now in spring or is it a long process?

Seed of Hepatica fall off when they are still green, so it is best to bag the seed pods to catch the seeds. Otherwise they will be gone one morning.
Hepatica seeds must be sown when they are still fresh, and they germinate the next spring, so it is a long process.

[Diane Whitehead]

I place a pot of soil under the flowers so the seeds drop in and sow themselves.

[Joakim B]

Thanks for the info about the long time to see results Lena.
I have bagged all seed heads so this year I will not try Diane's great and simple idea. They just take so long time to mature!

[Herman Mylemans]

In an article from Lincoln Foster in 1966 (American Rock Garden Society Vol 24 no 1) I found following name: Hepatica acutiloba 'Millstream Pink'.
Does this Hepatica still exist?
You can find the article: https://nargs.org/sites/default/files/free-rgq-downloads/VOL_24_NO_1.pdf
Look on page 12!

[shelagh]

Herman I only know of Millstream  Merlin.

[Herman Mylemans]

Herman I only know of Millstream  Merlin.

Shelagh, I have now added  the link to that article. Millstream Merlin grows in our garden. But Milstream Pink is unknown to me.

[shelagh]

A very interesting article and it sounds like Millstream Pink would be a worthwhile addition to any garden. However I see the publication was 1966 so perhaps it has gone out of cultivation. Millstream Merlin doesn't appear to produce viable seed in our experience so this could be a reason for it's disapperance or perhaps one of our American friends will find you one.

[Maggi Young]

RE: Hepatica 'Millstream Pink' :

None  of  my  contacts  in  NARGS ( North American Rock Garden Society)  know  of  this  plant  still being  in cultivation. Seems  we're  out  of  luck in finding  it.

[Herman Mylemans]

RE: Hepatica 'Millstream Pink' :

None  of  my  contacts  in  NARGS ( North American Rock Garden Society)  know  of  this  plant  still being  in cultivation. Seems  we're  out  of  luck in finding  it.

Thank you Maggi.

H . LINCOL N FOSTER, Falls Village, Conn.:
It has taken ten years to build up a stock and introduce into the gardens of
friends H. acutiloba "Millstream Pink." This is a vigorous plant with large blossoms of vivid, deep pink, an outstanding individual in any collection. Distributed now into many gardens, this solitary plant, found after long search amidst hosts
of plants in many sites, will perhaps persist in cultivation. It might have been
destroyed in the wild! 

"Distributed in many gardens" Maybe the plant still exists somewhere in a botanical or other garden.

[Gabriela]

In an article from Lincoln Foster in 1966 (American Rock Garden Society Vol 24 no 1) I found following name: Hepatica acutiloba 'Millstream Pink'.
Does this Hepatica still exist?
You can find the article: https://nargs.org/sites/default/files/free-rgq-downloads/VOL_24_NO_1.pdf
Look on page 12!

A good read and nice to have a look at an old black & white Journal Herman. I never heard about this form; like others already pointed out here, it may be lost unfortunately.
It is very hard to produce stock to distribute at least in few other gardens starting just from 1-2 plants.

Millstream Merlin I understand is a hybrid of unknown parentage; does the foliage resemble H. acutiloba?

[Gabriela]

It is that time of year when Hepaticas are starting to draw attention again from the woodland floor. This year I notice that most H. americana show marbled foliage.
H. americana


In late summer I planted for the first time few H. japonica plants raised from seeds in the garden. Raising from seeds surely gives you a chance to experiment
Already looking fwd to the spring!

[Herman Mylemans]

A good read and nice to have a look at an old black & white Journal Herman. I never heard about this form; like others already pointed out here, it may be lost unfortunately.
It is very hard to produce stock to distribute at least in few other gardens starting just from 1-2 plants.

Millstream Merlin I understand is a hybrid of unknown parentage; does the foliage resemble H. acutiloba?

Gabriela,

'Millstream Merlin'

Ashwood nursery
Hepatica `Millstream Merlin` is thought to be a cross between H. transsilvanica and H. americana, raised by H. Lincoln Foster, Connecticut. The long lasting, intense purple blue flowers are irregularly semi double, with no stamens, they also have a tendency to rebloom, an exceptional hepatica.

Edrom nursery
This has to be one of the most beautiful of the non japonica hybrid Hepaticas.
Flowers are made up of broad blue petals, a good strong blue and arguably the deepest blue on any except maybe some japonica hybrids. Foliage is tri-lobed and mid green in colour, dying away for the colder winter months. The flowers tend to rise in early spring before the fresh green foliage. Deep cobalt blue, deeper than Hepatica nobilis Cobalt blue but slower growing. Completely sterile and therefore the flowers last considerably longer.
Quite possibly a hybrid between H. media and H. acutiloba.

Edrom nursery uses then the name Hepatica x media ‘Millstream Merlin’
 
Mister Hepatica (Andreas Händel)
Hepatica `Millstream Merlin` a legendary plant of Lincoln Foster. The foliage leaves also look at this intersection very similar to those of mother transsilvanica, but stand the flowers are erect and appear very numerous.
The flowers are 30-35mm in diameter evenly round with 8-12 petals.

Gabriela, I think there is surely H. acutiloba involved. The position of the flowers is like the one's of acutiloba. The leaves show H. transsilvanica blood.

About "x media" I don't know. Then the cross should be (H. nobilis x H. transsilvanica) x H. acutiloba

 I have taken today a picture of a leave.

So which name is correct:

Hepatica `Millstream Merlin` or  Hepatica x media ‘Millstream Merlin’