Hepatica 2022

[Herman Mylemans]

Hepatica transsilvanica ‘Alba’

[Herman Mylemans]

Hepatica nobilis 'Perrine's Pink' was bought under this name. I think Hepatica nobilis var. pyrenaica 'Perrine's Pink' is a better name. The connectives are yellow and the leaves are beautifully marbled (picture 2021).

[Herman Mylemans]

It looks so beautiful with all the foliage Herman. It has a more natural look in my opinion. I don't cut the old leaves unless they are really bad.

I know it was a discussion here years ago about H. trans. 'Elison Spence' being the same thing as 'Connie Greenfield' but they don't look the same, and is not just the color. They look like 'sisters' but different. Maybe they came up from the same generation of the seeds crop?

Gabriela, on Rareplants' website I found:Traced by Michael Myers back as far as Dr Molly Sanderson in Ireland in 1973. She is thought to have introduced it from the garden of Mrs Elison Spence, originally labelled as “flora plena” but it was later named as Elison Spence. It seems to have come to England via the garden of Connie Greenfield and for a short time it was wrongly named after her, this was picked up from a label reading “ex Connie Greenfield”. Somewhere along the line it has also picked up a further wrong name Konnie Grenfield.

[Simon R]

Nice Pictures everyone!

Interesting topic. I also always wondered if they are the same plant. Their flowers are quite variable on the same plant so i guess the "differences" between `Connie Greenfield` and `Elison Spence` could just be the variability in different divisions of the same plant.
Thank you for the information Herman!

Anyways, here is `Elison Spence` flowering at my place.

[Herman Mylemans]

My Hepatica transsilvanica 'Elison Spence' changes color as the flower gets older!

[Gabriela]

Thank you Herman.
Showing pictures with flowers gradually getting older I think explains it! So, it depends at what moment of flowering someone takes the picture.

Slight differences in color can be due to the camera used, and also to the weather. I noticed here that during cold spring the colors are more vivid, while when too warm (which sometimes happen in May) the colors are more subdued.

Hepatica nobilis 'Perrine's Pink' was bought under this name. I think Hepatica nobilis var. pyrenaica 'Perrine's Pink' is a better name. The connectives are yellow and the leaves are beautifully marbled (picture 2021).

A nice cultivar which makes me ask a question I had since last year, regarding the marbled leaves of H. nobilis forms.
Should we assume all forms with marbled leaves have as provenience H. nobilis var. pyrenaica? 

From a batch of seeds of H. nobilis var. pyrenaica I actually obtained one year few seedlings with plain, green leaves. So, maybe from regular H. nobilis seeds some with marbled foliage can appear.

[Herman Mylemans]

A nice cultivar which makes me ask a question I had since last year, regarding the marbled leaves of H. nobilis forms.
Should we assume all forms with marbled leaves have as provenience H. nobilis var. pyrenaica? 

From a batch of seeds of H. nobilis var. pyrenaica I actually obtained one year few seedlings with plain, green leaves. So, maybe from regular H. nobilis seeds some with marbled foliage can appear.

Gabriela, if the leaves are marbled and the connectives are yellow it is certainly pyrenaica. But there are also Hepatica nobilis with marbled leaves but with pink connectives. I think it is also possible to have plain leaves on pyrenaica but the connective still need to be yellow.

[Gabriela]

Gabriela, if the leaves are marbled and the connectives are yellow it is certainly pyrenaica. But there are also Hepatica nobilis with marbled leaves but with pink connectives. I think it is also possible to have plain leaves on pyrenaica but the connective still need to be yellow.

Thank you Herman.
I don't know what to say, if we have to be so 'precise' about the connectives color, in general not only for var. pyrenaica. I will look closely this spring but I have at least one which I remember having greenish connectives.
Maybe it also depends when you look at them/take pictures, just at flowering or after the pollen is released....

Anyway, after 2-3 warm days, with up to 15C! almost all the snow melted fast. Yesterday many Hepaticas came to 'light' after a long time spent under snow. They seem OK, including the japonicas, I only found a young one upheaved on top of the ground. The soil is still frozen though.
Speaking of H. nobilis var. pyrenaica, one which receives more sun

close to it, another one which remains under a Helleborus leaves.

[Leena]

Herman, very nice pictures in the previous page. I especially liked your multipetala nobilis, and of course doubles.

Gabriela, it is so nice to see green and plants after winter, isn't it!
About marbled leaves in H.nobilis. I have couple of wild nobilis plants which have marbles new leaves, and later in the summer they turn more even coloured, and because they are from wild here, there can't be any var pyrenaica in them.

[Herman Mylemans]

Herman, very nice pictures in the previous page. I especially liked your multipetala nobilis, and of course doubles.
About marbled leaves in H.nobilis. I have couple of wild nobilis plants which have marbles new leaves, and later in the summer they turn more even coloured, and because they are from wild here, there can't be any var pyrenaica in them.

Leena, multipetale nobilis gives a lot of seeds.  I have already found seedlings that are also multipetale.
Your marbled nobilis does it have pink connectives?

[Leena]

Leena, multipetale nobilis gives a lot of seeds.  I have already found seedlings that are also multipetale.
Your marbled nobilis does it have pink connectives?

It is good to know that multipetal type comes through well with seeds. I sowed some multipetal H.nobilis last summer from Gabriela's seeds, and they will germinate soon I hope.

My Hepaticas are still under snow, but of the two native marbled plants which I remember the other one has pink flowers and the other one blue. The pink one was even more marbled than the blue one, but it grows in more sunny spot. I will have to remember to look at their connectives when they flower, and also if the leaves are marbles also this year.

[Gabriela]

Thank you Leena. Just as I suspected about H. nobilis with marbled leaves.

Indeed, it is so good to see all the snow gone and the plants This winter there was no break from one snowfall to another. I did a more close inspection today and the buds on Hepaticas are looking good, including on H. japonica. We just have to wait a little more.

[Herman Mylemans]

Hepatica maxima ex BSWJ 4344 has germinated after 2 winters, the first leaves are much larger than with the other Hepatica's.

[Carsten]

Nice seedlings, Herman! In my experience, the germination of seeds from maxima and it´s hybrids mostly takes place in the second year after seeding. Germination is around October with the first root but they emerge not before spring above ground. So, a real cold phase or even frost is not required for germination as it is often told. Maxima seed is much later to ripen in the season, so this might be the reason, that they are not ready for germination in autumn yet.

[Herman Mylemans]

Nice seedlings, Herman! In my experience, the germination of seeds from maxima and it´s hybrids mostly takes place in the second year after seeding. Germination is around October with the first root but they emerge not before spring above ground. So, a real cold phase or even frost is not required for germination as it is often told. Maxima seed is much later to ripen in the season, so this might be the reason, that they are not ready for germination in autumn yet.

Thanks Carsten, it is the first time that I have seedlings from maxima. So for the two seeds from Hepatica maxima x Hepatica  japonica 'Touyama-shigure' in 2021, I will also need to wait till 2023.