Hepatica 2009

[Diane Clement]

I was surprised to see no Hepatica postings for 2009, so better start a new thread.

My hepaticas are making a start into flowering.  Many of them are braving the snow outside and opening a few flowers, with a promise of more to come.

Hepatica transsilvanica de Buis  -  a vigorous large flowered plant in a lilacy blue, I believe its parentage is doubted and may be a cross with H nobilis making it H x media

Hepatica japonica  this is an unnamed cultivar from a Japanese breeding programme aimed at producing a yellow.  The picture doesn't really show that it is a very pale creamy yellow colour, certainly different from the typical white hepatica.  It also has an interesting form with narrow petals. It is proving to be generous with flowers.

[maggiepie]

How beautiful they are Diane, and what a welcome sight they must be after the nasty weather.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Great kick-off for the season Diane !   

[Diane Clement]

what a welcome sight they must be after the nasty weather.  

I'm not sure we are "after the nasty weather" yet      Another week of cold temperatures forecast here

[Michael J Campbell]

Hepatica nobilis pink

[Michael J Campbell]

Hepatica japonica
Hepatica nobilis again,a better pic

[Gunilla]

Truly beautiful plants, Diane and Michael and a very good start to the 2009 Hepatica thread  

[Joakim B]

Nice plants Diane and Michel.
I saw some more blooming plants on Your blog/diary Diane. A nice Indigo strain I think You called it. Does that mean that it is a seed raised one that also comes true from seed? It lacked the "whiskers" that we see in all of the above. Is that also a stable feature on Your plant?
Maybe I should have asked the question elsewhere but I like to have the hepatica in one place so that tit will be easier to find when I forget where I read about it.
Maybe You ca show the plant here as well if I may have a request.
Nice to see that the season has started

Kind regards
Joakim

[Diane Clement]

I saw some more blooming plants on Your blog/diary Diane. A nice Indigo strain I think You called it. Does that mean that it is a seed raised one that also comes true from seed? It lacked the "whiskers" that we see in all of the above. Is that also a stable feature on Your plant?
Maybe I should have asked the question elsewhere but I like to have the hepatica in one place so that tit will be easier to find when I forget where I read about it.  Maybe You ca show the plant here as well if I may have a request.   

By "whiskers" do you mean anthers?  The Indigo plant does have all its parts, but is only just starting to open, so the anthers will expand a little later. 
It isn't seed raised by me, but was bought from Ashwood a couple of years ago, it's not a very vigorous plant with me.  I think it would come fairly true from seed, but it hasn't given me any yet and there is a large chance of cross pollination from a collection of 100+ plants.  I don't isolate or restrict pollination as I like to see new plants, and better to propagate a nice one by division.
 
Hepatica nobilis Indigo Strain

[Joakim B]

Yes Diane "whiskers" are supposed to be anthers  my botanic terms are slightly home made 
I had the memory of inigo with anthers so that is why I asked.
Thanks for clearing this out and for showing the picture.
Kind regards
Joakim

[Diane Clement]

Some hepaticas don’t have anthers, they are referred to as "Maidens" they can’t pollinate but they can be pollinated and bear seed.  Millstream Merlin is a classic example (picture from last year, to illustrate the point, it's not in flower yet) 

Hepatica Millstream Merlin

[EinMy]

I used to grow "Millstream Merlin" but lost it along with several other Hepaticas when moving house. This is a an aspect of my memory that I am unable to surpress, unfortunately
As far as I can recall "Merlin" is a hybrid between H. transsilvanica and H acutiloba produced by Lincoln Foster. This hybrid is infertile so it is very much "a Maiden".
Would it be fair to conclude that both fertile and infertile Hepaticas without anthers are included in the term "Maiden"?

Best regards
Einar

[Diane Clement]

I used to grow "Millstream Merlin" but lost it along with several other Hepaticas when moving house. This is a an aspect of my memory that I am unable to surpress, unfortunately    As far as I can recall "Merlin" is a hybrid between H. transsilvanica and H acutiloba produced by Lincoln Foster. This hybrid is infertile so it is very much "a Maiden".   Would it be fair to conclude that both fertile and infertile Hepaticas without anthers are included in the term "Maiden"?   

I think the term maiden is applied to this form of hepatica (no anthers), fertile or not.   
I'm not sure whether Millstream Merlin is regarded as infertile just because it has no anthers, or because it's a hybrid.  Some japonicas have no anthers and they can still produce seed if pollinated. 
I believe Millstream Merlin (yes, raised by the Lincoln Foster) arose as a spontaneous hybrid, so possibly uncertain parentage.  It tends to be labelled as H x media, which would make its parents H nobilis and H transsilvanica.  However, there are various references to the parentage as being H acutiloba or H americana, which in the early days were regarded as subspecies of H nobilis.  I'll have a try at backcrossing it.   

   

[EinMy]

Hello again Diane,
I can assure you that "Merlin" is sterile, but would not mind if somebody proved me wrong about the sterility of this hybrid. I know Kath Dryden was the first to exhibit it and the plant won an award in 1989(I suppose this is something I should know since Dryden originally sent me my "Merlin" .
I do have a couple of fertile maidens in the sense that I have found plants in the wild in Norway without anthers. The Germans call this type of Hepatica "females" by the way since they lack the male reproductive anthers and pollen. A third plant I once found has a few anthers varying in number from 1-4. I have used this plant to pollinate the maidens, which works fine as the production of seeds is quite normal. But naturally, my maidens are not hybrids.

Best regards
Einar

[Diane Clement]

A few more hepaticas here
H nobilis seedling thanks to Chris Vermeire (not been here for ages??) good pink
H japonica stripey seedling
a very nice pale pink double japonica whose name will need to wait until my friend Kimihiko comes to stay