Epimedium - various threads gathered together here

[shelagh]

Mark you were quite right regarding Ep. sulphureum being Ep. davidii as my husband (the gardener) spotted as soon as I ran the pictures through for him.  We used to have sulphureum but last year he split a huge davidii and put that in the same spot.  Ah me you can't get the staff you know

[TheOnionMan]

Mark,

E. grandiflorum 'Spring Wedding' comes from a nursery in Belgium which bought it directly from Probst. The colour on the photo is true. Yours looks a bit paler indeed.

Here's another one, flowering here for the first time:

E. x youngianum 'Tamabotan'

Wim, my E. grandiflorum 'Spring Wedding' starts out with pale lilac sepals and white petals, then fading to a near white with just a hint of lilac.

It is interesting to watch these plants as they mature into much larger clumps, as what may seem like a very small cultivar can in time get large, so it can be easy to plant them too close together.  I had previously posted two photos of a young flowering plant of E. x youngianum 'Tamaboton' taken a few years back, a cute thing. I love the open slightly crinkled blooms, which are surprisingly large in size.  My plant has matured, and I've been photographing it over the last several weeks, from first emergence to start of flowering (now), and this one gets comparitively big, currently 13" x 20" (32.5 x 50 cm).  It has also shown, as a mature plant, very deep dark foliage coloration.

There are a couple other E. x youngianum cultivars with these odd frilly open cup-like blooms, these too have gotten large, much larger than even 'Tamabotan'.  

1 - 2   E. x youngianum 'Beni-kujaku', similar to 'Tamabotan', but not so dark-leaved, and brighter reddish-pink flowers.
3        E. x youngianum 'Kozakura' - one of several types where the sepals are deciduous leaving only the single cup-like petals.  Small white
            flowers tinged with dull purple, partially hidden by the foliage.  Grown to 30" across (75 cm)!  Of marginal interest.
4.       E. x youngianum 'Fukurasuzume' - the tallest youngianum, and the ugliest.  Weird, flimsy, dirty whitish flowers... at least the plant has
            the decency to hide the ugly flowers under foliage.  Almost every other youngianum cultivar is MUCH better.

[Katrin Lugerbauer]

Mark, thanks for your answer. 'Chris Norton' is one of the Epimediums which grow very good in even dryier conditions.

I didn't know about the difference of using ' and ", thanks a lot. Some nurseries in Europe gave numbers to their "Asiatic Hybrids", but I think there are many different plants in cultivation. Your plant is a bit more exciting I think, because it's new to me  .

The unknown species I got from a plantsman who doesn't know its real name. It's a beautiful plant tough and very rich flowering. It could be a hybrid of course, but I don't know it.

I bought the E. fargesii in GB last summer. I've never seen E. dolichostemon in real and unfortunately I don't know where to get it from. It's a great plant too and I would really like to campare it with my E. fargesii. But you are right, on some pictures this species has not that curved spurs like my plant, on other pics it looks the same. Confusion everywhere  . I'm looking forward to get 'Pink Constellation', so that I can compare them.

You mention William T. Stearn. His book is really great, but no longer available in Europe (only to very high prices). I'm afraid I've to order it overseas. I've got E. koreanum itself (no flowers this year) and E. koreanum 'La Rocaille'. They are a bit taller than my plant of E. grandiflorum f. flavescens (I've never seen this name here. This plant is, even when available, called E. grandiflorum var. koreanum). I never payed attention on it in autumn, but I will do it this year!

E. 'Jörg' is a chance seedling in the garden of a german plant collector. It was given to Christian Kreß (Sarastro Nursery) and he propagated it. It has tiny flowers in comparison to other epimediums but an excellent dark foliage when coming out in spring. It is very unknown till yet, I got one of the first plants at Sarastros.

1.+2: E. 'Flowers of Sulphur'
3. E. 'Togen'
4. E. koreanum 'La Rocaille'
5. E. 'Pink Elf'
6.+7. E. 'Fire Dragon'
8. E. grandiflorum

[Maggi Young]

Great to have you posting again, Katrin.
So many great photos and information...
It seems that there is something of an EPPI-demic going on at the minute....

[TheOnionMan]

Katrin, your post reminds why it is so fun participating in this forum... some plants you're growing are unfamiliar to me and it has me scrambling to do google searches to learn more about them.

Looked up E. 'Flowers of Sulphur', it is a hybrid of flavum and ogisui.  Not sure if it is available here in the USA.  The foliage seen in the link below shows it has really bright foliage.
http://www.edrom-nurseries.co.uk/shop/pc/Epimedium-Flowers-of-Sulphur-20p9125.htm#details

Regarding 'Togen', another I am unfamiliar with, I found the following info and link, appears that it is a form of E. leptorrhizum:
Epimedium leptorrhizum 'Togen'
Barry Yinger at his Asiatica nursery says "We received this beautiful plant in Japan as a hybrid cultivar, but Darrell Probst believes it is E. leptorrhizum"
http://www.asiaticanursery.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=plants.plantDetail&plant_id=1211

On E. koreanum 'La Rocaille', I believe it is correctly called E. grandiflorum f. flavescens 'La Rocaille', consistent with the W.T.Stearn taxonomic clarification between E. grandiflorum f. flavescens and true E. koreanum.  This is one of the very first epimediums I purchased back in 1976 or 1977, under the koreanum name, and I still have it, even surviving two cross-country home moves back in the 1980s.  It makes a gorgeous clump, it is not an aggressive runner as E. koreanum is.  Some of the hybrids from this one are quite interesting.

'Pink Elf' - ooohhh, this is a "must get" cutie, and I find it available in the USA from Plant Delights Nursery (some bartering is in order ).
Epimedium 'Pink Elf', a Robin White hybrid derived from E. leptorrhizum x E. pubescens

'Fire Dragon' is another "must get" - love those pink and yellow candy flowers.  

The Plant Delights Nursery - Epimedium Page, shows some great looking newer selections, take a look.  In particular, look at Epimedium 'Yokihi', a cross between E. davidii x E. grandiflorum 'Yubae'.  Shouldn't be too hard to create a plant like that, I have E. davidii "Wolong Selections" growing next to E. grandiflorum 'Red Queen', and have been dabbing pollen onto davidii
http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/page25.html

[WimB]

 

Today there was a plant named after me by a local nursery-woman, so I'm really happy to present:

Epimedium 'Wim Boens' (it feels really weird to have a plant named after you)
















It is a selected seedling with as probable parentage E. wushanense davidii and E. rhizomatosum. It is a very good grower with evergreen foliage and very fine flowers. They go for sale tomorrow.

[Arykana]

of course you are happy! I would.............

[Gail]

Congratulations Wim - it's a lovely one!

[TheOnionMan]

Thinking about hybridizing epimediums, I pulled some images together. There is so much potential in certain species and cultivars, that it fires the imagination. Seeing what some of the hybrids look like compared to theior parents, gives clues and ideas about what to strive for.  Here are a few that I'm working with.

1-4  E. grandiflorum 'Red Queen' - the granddaddy of grandiflorums, a giant plant that grows much larger than reported.  Just went out and measured it, currently 30" tall x 44" wide (75 x 110 cm), yowsa!  The dense foliar sheath lifts its skirt high enough to see the bounty of rosy-red flowers which last for weeks.

5    E. davidii "Wolong Selections" - variable forms found and introduced by Darrell Probst, from Wolong, China.  Mine is a young plant; has attractive small spiny-edged foliage, and good-sized bright flowers, much pollen dabbing going on here.

6    E. x 'Domino' - another view of this fantastic introduction by Darrell Probst, with the previous mentioned E. davidii off to the left. Gorgeous plant form and flowers, with significant flower power, flowers produced *above* the foliage, seems like an excellent starting point.

7-8  E. brevicornu - has already revealed itself to be a willing parent, imparting boldly colored foliage and good form.  While the flowers are tiny, they are so abundant and clearly presented *above* the foliage, that it makes a grand show in the garden, among the earliest to flower and continuing for up to 2 months!  Established plants make large bold clumps.  Also shown here is a young plant with a smaller bounty of flowers... again, lots of pollen dabbing going on.

9-10  View of Epimedium bed full of hybrid seedlings flowers (3 year old bed).  In the center of the photo 9 is a small yellow and white flowered hybrid between E. brevicornu with E. membranaceum. In photo 10, there's a E. davidii hybrid, with rather small hot pink and yellow flowers.  This year, many of these hybrids are being planted out to see what they look like as established clumps.

[Maggi Young]

How exciting, Wim, what an honour for you! 

Does this nursery do mail order and accept paypal??! 

[Maggi Young]

Epi fans.... a Forumist has been honoured by the naming for him of a new Epimedium .... see this message for pix of E. 'Wim Boens' ....
www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=2645.msg150009#msg150009     

[WimB]

Thanks All,

@ Maggi: its' really a big honour... I think I'm maybe a bit young to have a plant named for me but I happily accepted.

The nursery is "Epimedium" in Belgium. She will start mail-order next Autumn. This is the link to her website: http://www.epimedium.be/ (for the moment only in Dutch and French but it will be in English next Autumn also). You can contact her in Dutch, French, English or German.

[shelagh]

Katrin thanks for the picture of Pink Elf.  We were given a plant of that but it never thrived and so I haven't seen it in flower before.

[TheOnionMan]

Congratulations Wim!  Fine looking plant.  Regarding parentage, I would not have guessed either rhizomatosum or wushanense; based on the shape of the flower and prominent red sepals, I would've guessed E. davidii or possibly E. flavum as one of the parents.  Do you grow either of those two, for that to be a possibility?

[WimB]

Congratulations Wim!  Fine looking plant.  Regarding parentage, I would not have guessed either rhizomatosum or wushanense; based on the shape of the flower and prominent red sepals, I would've guessed E. davidii or possibly E. flavum as one of the parents.  Do you grow either of those two, for that to be a possibility?

Thanks, Mark. Parentage is not sure... I'll call Daniëlle from "Epimedium" tomorrow to ask her what she thinks and I'll let you know.