Epimedium - various threads gathered together here

[ChrisB]

Hi Mark,

Here is the unopened flowers, closest I can get with my digital.  and a better picture of the foliage

[ChrisB]

And finally, I got a reply from John Sirkett.  He says, after seeing the pictures above:  Hi Christine,
thanks for your message, it looks like a nice plant. As you may have gathered there
are a lot of misnamed Epimedium about at present. From your picture I would have
placed the plant in E.myrianthum but it is also very close to E.sagittatum (they may
eventually be merged as species). The leaves of E.sagittatum have 'markedly
undulate margins' while the margins of E.myrianthum are flat. I would say that your
plant had flat leaves, but it may not be so 'in the flesh'.

And the leaves on my plant are flat, so, E. myrianthum it is.

[TheOnionMan]

Yay, it's so fun when sleuthing out these identifications to arrive at a positive ID.  My E. myrianthum opened a few flowers, and I tried my best today to get a decent photo, this one with its minuscule flowers and buds widely dispersed, is near impossible to photograph.  Only one turned out decent enough to show here, the closeup being a zoomed view of the flowers on the same photo.  Chris, in your latest photo, and in mine, you can see the dark blue outer sepals forming the buds.  But you'll also notice, mine is a plain green-leaved plant, without any of the marvelous mottling of your plant

It is interesting to learn from your Mr. Sirkett just how similar E. myrianthum and E. sagittatum are, if not eventually becoming conspecific.

[TheOnionMan]

Today I visited Garden Vision Nursery in charming Hubbardston, Massachusetts, USA, on one of their six "open nursery days" over two long weekends in May, an annual event. This one-of-a-kind nursery has the most comprehensive offering of Epimedium species and cultivars in the world, a hot-bed of fantastic introductions by Epi-Jedi Master Darrell Probst.  If interested in more information contact Karen Perkins, Owner/Proprietor of the nursery, at epimediums@earthlink.net. 

It was a perfect dry, sunny, mild (not hot) day, and the epimediums were in full force.  It's getting late, and I'll be posting more photos, but let me leave you with this teaser photo showing one of numerous hybrid seedlings under trial at Garden Vision Epimediums... yum yum eat em up.

[Stephen Vella]

nice hybrids Mark...keep them coming.
 
Do you know the cross of this last one?

cheers

[TheOnionMan]

nice hybrids Mark...keep them coming.
 
Do you know the cross of this last one?

cheers

This hybrid was among many rows marked as "hybrids under trial", but in this particular section they were sumptuous hybrids that resemble his two recent introductions 'Pink Champagne' and 'Domino'.

[ChrisB]

I've been patiently waiting for this one to flower.  Today it did.  I've been keeping it in a pot because it tends to get lost otherwise in the garden.  Love the markings on the edges of the foliage.  First the foliage, then a close up of the flower for Epimedium grandiflorum 'Nanum'

[John Aipassa]

My first Epimedium to flower.

Epimedium Madame Butterfly.

Cheers,
John

[Regelian]

John,

that's a real beauty!  Nice contrast and graceful form.  Well named.  Is it a european cultivar?  I've not heard of it.

[John Aipassa]

John,

that's a real beauty!  Nice contrast and graceful form.  Well named.  Is it a european cultivar?  I've not heard of it.

Hi Jamie,

I don't know the origin (yet). Haven't looked it up, but the source is European though. It is from Edrom Nurseries Scotland.

Cheers,
John

[WimB]

Very nice John,

a striking contrast and it has beautiful young leaves too.

Jamie,

it's an English introduction from Robin White's nursery (Blackthorn nursery).

[John Aipassa]

Very nice John,

a striking contrast and it has beautiful young leaves too.

Jamie,

it's an English introduction from Robin White's nursery (Blackthorn nursery).

Thanks Wim,

Do you also know the parents of this hybrid? Acuminatum? Epsteinii? Mikinori? Other?

Cheers,
John

[WimB]

You're welcome, John.

It's a cross between E. acuminatum and  E. latisepalum.

Cheers

[Regelian]

You're welcome, John.

It's a cross between E. acuminatum and  E. latisepalum.

Cheers

Wim,

the things you have stored away in your little book of data.  It's always a treat.  I bet you have some real beauties waiting in the garden to bloom. 

[TheOnionMan]

You're welcome, John.

It's a cross between E. acuminatum and  E. latisepalum.

Cheers

I would've guessed that it was an acuminatum cross.  To show the affinity to acuminatum, here are two photos taken recently at Garden Vision Epimedium nursery of E. acuminatum.