Epimedium - various threads gathered together here

[Olga Bondareva]

They send plants only to GB. 

[ChrisB]

Teyl used to have a NC of epimedium, and knows a lot about them....

[Tony Willis]

three more open at the moment

Epimedium latisepalum
Epimedium sp.
Epimedium golden eagle

[Yang]

It's so beautiful!

[Regelian]

I just harvested some slightly green Epimedium seed.  Does it require any special treatment to germinate?  How about using GA-3?

Olga,

you have an amazing collection of Epimedium.  And, like you noted, the foliage is nothing to be snuffed at.  I love the emerging tones in the Spring.  Really gets the heart racing.

[Gunilla]

At our plant sale last week I was lucky to find some nice Epimediums. My knowledge of this species is non-existing but I have been inspired by all the beautiful pictures in this thread. 

These two are now flowering in my garden thanks to you all     And they both have lovely new leaves as well.

Epimedium 'Amber Queen'
Epimedium chlorandrum 

[gote]

Gunilla,
Your chlorandrum is a beauty but it is not chlorandrum. Possibly rhizomatosum but it is necessay to see the whole plant including the rhizomes to be sure.
There is a good book about Epimediums but many do not fit and many out there are wrongly named.
However, the hybrid called 'rubrum' is a real stalwart. Unfortunately the flowers are below the leaves.
Brachyrrhizum is an early bird and I think this is correctly named.
Cheers
Göte

[Rodger Whitlock]

... the hybrid called 'rubrum' is a real stalwart. Unfortunately the flowers are below the leaves.

Can that be corrected by removing the old foliage in late winter? Or does the new foliage emerge early enough to swamp the flowers?

I finally managed to get outside and cut down several of my epimediums (nothing special) this spring before new growth started. They looked a lot better while in flower that way, esp. E. pubiflorum which grows close to the house entrance.

[Lori S.]

Not many of the leaves survive the winter in good shape here on E. x rubrum (or on any of the others I have), so I generally cut them down to the ground in the spring cleanup.  On my E. x rubrum, the flowers are always amongst and under the new leaves, nonetheless... nice big boughs of flowers but I do have to hunt a bit to see them! 

[Diane Whitehead]

I bought a pallidum this year, but did not photograph it while it was
flowering.  I thought it had white flowers, though the catalogue of
the nursery where I bought it says it is yellow-flowered.

Seedpods are forming.

[Gunilla]

Gunilla,
Your chlorandrum is a beauty but it is not chlorandrum. Possibly rhizomatosum but it is necessay to see the whole plant including the rhizomes to be sure.

Thanks Göte.  I just let the magpies have that label too, then    I made a google search for E. rhizomatosum and it looks very much like the one I got. 

[gote]

... the hybrid called 'rubrum' is a real stalwart. Unfortunately the flowers are below the leaves.

Can that be corrected by removing the old foliage in late winter? Or does the new foliage emerge early enough to swamp the flowers?

I finally managed to get outside and cut down several of my epimediums (nothing special) this spring before new growth started. They looked a lot better while in flower that way, esp. E. pubiflorum which grows close to the house entrance.

It is not very visible in the picture because the foliage looms over the flowers but I refer to the leaves on the flowering stalk. I.e. to this year's leaves. I cut off the foliage of more and more species in the late winter since it just looks untidy and will be discarded by the plant anyway.
Göte

[gote]

My epimediums do not seem to be as floriferous this year - except rubrum and this one: grandiflorum 'Lilafee'
Cheers
Göte

[TheOnionMan]

As a new-comer to SRGC Forum, I missed out on the very interesting "Epimedium 2009" discussion.  I hope to revisit some of the  information and questions posed in the 2009 thread in 2010.  So, I'm pleased to kick off "Epimedium 2010".

There is life beyond Allium & Onions for the "Onion Man", and I'm a serious admirer of Epimedium as well, as well as many other plants.  I call my beloved Epimedium plants "eppies" for short.  I am most fortunate being located just a mere 45 minutes drive from the "epicenter of Epimedium", the epimedium extravaganza that is Garden Vision Nursery founded by epi-jedi master Darrell Probst, in Hubbardston, Massachusetts. I will discuss this in more in the future.

Let me start with a single recent species, E. wushanense, a species that is only recent and rarely obtainable.  Epimedium wushanense "Spiny-leaved Forms" is a selection from several clones grown by Darrell, that grows lower and leafier, with shorter condensed panicles of large bloom.  I got my plant at a local NARGS auction 3 years back, where Darrell as usual generously donated a wonderful selection of choicest of choice epimedium to benefit our chapter.

This species has proved completely hardy (most epimediums are absolutely hardy) and completely evergreen in my harsh Zone 5 garden (a number of eppies are indeed evergreen here), with bold, glossy, spiny-edged foliage, and dense spikes of substantially large white and yolk-yellow flowers in May.  The only problem with the flowers is that they droop downwards towards the ground and get dirt-splashed.  In the photo, I am lifting up two flower spikes.  I think this species has incredible potential for breeding.  More to come.

[galahad]

Thanks for starting the 2010 thread.  I love Epimediums and need to find some more