Epimedium - various threads gathered together here

[Hans J]

Hi Mark ,

Thank you for your confirmation and your pic of E.pauciflorum.
In this time are my E.pauciflorum still in a pot but I have the feeling they not like to growing in pots - I have to look for place in the garden

Hans

[Stephen Vella]

Was hoping somebody could help me with some picks or a discription of flowers of these newly purchased Epimediums. Mark?

Epimedium omeinensis or is it know as omeinense as I have found referance to both. Are they the same thing or differant species?

Epimedium y "freckles" (dont know why the "y" is there).

Epimedium cv Japanese cultivar. Supposing know and passed around as "japanese cultivar"


Cheers

[Maggi Young]

Epimedium y "freckles" (dont know why the "y" is there).

 I think this 'Freckles' is an Epimedium youngianum cultivar

[TheOnionMan]

Was hoping somebody could help me with some picks or a discription of flowers of these newly purchased Epimediums. Mark?
Epimedium y "freckles" (dont know why the "y" is there).

Maggi is correct, this is E. x youngianum 'Freckles', a seedling that appeared in the garden of Harold Epstein.  I have uploaded a photo showing it in flower, although the leaf-spotting or freckling is not clearly visible in the photo.  Just checked my plant, it is just starting to flower, a photo taken of the foliage and uploaded here.

Epimedium cv Japanese cultivar. Supposing know and passed around as "japanese cultivar"

This is another youngianum cultivar that Harold Epstein bought on a trip to Japan, but lost the label for, so the plant gows around as E. x youngianum "Japanese Cultivar".  Mine is getting ready to bloom.

Epimedium omeinensis or is it know as omeinense as I have found referance to both. Are they the same thing or differant species?

This is Epimedium x omeiense (note spelling), a naturally occuring hybrid.
http://www.heronswood.com/perennials_perennials-d-to-e_epimedium/epimedium-x-omeiense-djhc-98428/

A collection on Mt. Emei in Sichuan, used by Stearn as the type for specimen for the description of this naturally occurring hybrid.  Bright red sepals with orange/yellow spurs.  It's a beautiful plant.
Epimedium x omeiense 'Akame' (synonyms 'Emei Shan', 'Rigeletto')
http://www.desirableplants.com/page26.html
http://www.desirableplants.com/Epimedium%20x%20omeiense%20'Akame'.jpg

On the Desirable Plants web site, the cross is described as fangii x acuminatum.

Plant Delights Nursery has a selection of this cross named 'Razzleberry', a new introduction for 2010.
http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/Detail/07325.html

[Stephen Vella]

Thanks Maggi and Mark.

Will make some corrections on the labels.

Thanks for showing the pick of E x youngianum 'Freckles'. I can see some leaf spotting in your pick. Looks nice in flower too.

I would be keen to see your E x youngianum 'Japanese cultivar' in bloom.

E x omeiense 'Akame' looks amazing, great colour to the flowers and nice dark flecks to the leaf. A must have, will see if its in the country.

So what you are saying or have read that E x omeiense can be variable in flower colour from lavander purple and white in heronswood's and the collection from Mt Emei has red and yellow...totally differant?? Do you have either of these?

[TheOnionMan]

I would be keen to see your E x youngianum 'Japanese cultivar' in bloom.

So what you are saying or have read that E x omeiense can be variable in flower colour from lavander purple and white in heronswood's and the collection from Mt Emei has red and yellow...totally differant?? Do you have either of these?

Yes, since this is a naturally occuring hybrid between a yellow flowered species, E. fangii, and E. acuminatum having white sepals and purple petals, the color possibilities are many.  I do not have E. x omeiense 'Akame' yet... although it is available here (I haven't sprung for the $30 asking price yet). I have both parent species, maybe I can recreate the cross

[Lesley Cox]

Epimedium y "freckles" (dont know why the "y" is there).

You have Spanish connections perhaps?

[Stephen Vella]

Mark thats like dangling a carrot  an interesting project that I would be very interested in. If  any seed was available, would like to trade.PLease!

[TheOnionMan]

Mark thats like dangling a carrot  an interesting project that I would be very interested in. If  any seed was available, would like to trade.PLease!

Sure, send me a PM so that I have it as a reminder in my SRGC inbox.  I need to find my E. acuminatum in the garden, when one has 180+ species and cultivars, duplicates of some, and lots of hybrid seedlings, it is hard to keep track where they all are. 

So far as E. fangii, it is low growing with beautiful small foliage the get a deep leathery green when mature.  It is in just emerging now, with flower buds showing, but I must MOVE it.  When planted out, I didn't realize it was a spreader, with rhizomes spreading 8" (20 cm) each way each year... I can see that behavior now, so will relocate it to a suitable spot. 

Darrell Probst tells an interesting story about the plants he reintroduced, as the type plants which he twice imported from England and once from Japan, were fussy and eventually died.  The plants Darrell reintroduced from Mt. Emei China are willing growers, and hardy, at least here in our northern New England garden clime.

[TheOnionMan]

Flowering now and putting on a display more impressive than imagined, is a rare variegated form of Epimedium sempervirens.  It doesn't have a cultivar name yet, it is just referenced as E. sempervirens "Variegated #1".   This form was purchased in Japan by Darrell Probst in 1997, who says it "cost a small fortune".

What a stunner it is, even more compelling than my photos which fail to adequately capture the intensity and nuance of color of the brilliant new foliage embracing creamy white flowers, all hovering above dark leathery winter-evergreen leaves.  To quote Darrell, the variegation of new foliage is supposed to turn "a swirling collage of white, pink, and light green" which last well into summer.

Photos 3-4 show the plant at younger emergence, with deep red leaf tones.  In Photo 5, just two days later, the leaves are starting to expand, they are infused with mottled red and pink coloration    In photos 1-3 notice how the aerial flower and new foliage effect is set off by a low brace of shiny evergreen foliage; looks great in the garden.

I wonder what it'll look like today

[Philip MacDougall]

Vancouver has had a very early spring, we had virtually no frost after Jan. Many plants have bloomed very early, others are following their regular seasonal growth patterns. The epimediums seem to be regulated by temperature rather than season, some have already finished blooming. One just coming into bloom is this unnamed  species collected by Darrel Probst called simply "The Giant". It bloomed until November last year in my greenhouse, the flower stems are indeterminate and will continue extending, I suspect to even longer than the described 8 feet. In one of these pics I'm pointing to where the still expanding tip sits. Will try to post a few more Epic pics from the west coast this week. Philip

[TheOnionMan]

Vancouver has had a very early spring, we had virtually no frost after Jan. Many plants have bloomed very early, others are following their regular seasonal growth patterns. The epimediums seem to be regulated by temperature rather than season, some have already finished blooming. One just coming into bloom is this unnamed  species collected by Darrel Probst called simply "The Giant". It bloomed until November last year in my greenhouse, the flower stems are indeterminate and will continue extending, I suspect to even longer than the described 8 feet. In one of these pics I'm pointing to where the still expanding tip sits. Will try to post a few more Epic pics from the west coast this week. Philip

Philip, absolutely fantastic!  I like how you are pointing out the top of the plant   I have seen this in flower in Darrell Probst's 100' long greenhouse and the TBD (to be determined) species never ceases to amaze me; love the large caramel colored flowers too.  Now, I do wonder how it would grow, and what it would be like, when grown out in the garden... might need support from nearly shrubs or something.

[Maggi Young]

My goodness, Philip, if you had posted this on April 1st I would have had to dismiss it as a fantasy 
An extraordinary size of Epimedium... and what a great colour 

[johnw]

Philip

What Epimedium? Where?

I see a Podophyllum by your knee though.

"....might need support from nearly shrubs or something." How about a tree?

johnw

[Stephen Vella]

  Yeah thats a wow plant! Interesting.