Epimedium - various threads gathered together here

[Maggi Young]

Lovely hybrid shown by Wim Boens -

"Epimedium 3, x youngianum 'Lilliputian' as seedparent and epsteinii as pollenparent, not as small (15 cm) as Lilliputian but very floriferous and a good clumper... will be named for my mother."




What a charming compliment to Wim's Mother. 

[Gabriela]

And what a beautiful 'mini epsteinii'. Congrats!

[TheOnionMan]

Wim's 'Lilliputian' x epsteinii is a great looking plant, what a bold and beautiful cross it is.  The large epsteinii-like flowers over trim deciduous foliage on a compact plant is outstanding.  Wim & I were comparing notes on his several Lilliputian crosses, and mine, then on Facebook, and finally here, social media at work . Wim tells me this cross is closer to epsteinii size; in my opinion it breaks new ground and has all of the best attributes one could hope in this unique cross, congratulations once again Wim!

[TheOnionMan]

With some (many, most?) genera, a cross of A x B versus B x A usually yield different results.  With Lilium, the pollen donor tends to contribute more of the floral characteristics, while the pod parent tends to contribute more to the progeny's overall plant structure.

Thanks for your insight on this topic Rick, most interesting.

[TheOnionMan]

A "stepping stone" or "milestone" plant is this rather unassuming cross with 'Lilliputian' and sempervirens 'Vega', selected in 2012.  I ended up with a sempervirens-like semi-evergreen plant, with no second flush, it's the lowest epimedium I have, ultimately even lower than 'Lilliputian'. In autumn foliage turns blood red (last photo, Nov 14, 2014), similar coloring as sempervirens 'Vega'. It has typical little white flowers.  This plant should increase chance of more dwarf progeny. 

Seed from last year's manual crosses have germinated, and today while dodging rain showers I crossed all flowers with other interesting varieties (pretty much, whatever is available, not much in flower yet).  In the plastic flat are pollen parent possibilities, the four large yellow flowers are from lishihchenii hybrids (2 different ones, the yellow flower on the right has a bit more of a pronounced brown rim). Experimenting with getting more interesting flower colors and forms on a stable dwarf plant.

In the autumn foliage view, the few green leaves on the right edge are "Lilliputian" leaflets, about the same size as with the red autumn color dwarf sempervirens leaflets.

[Maggi Young]

Photo compilations  of epimedium  from Olga Bondareva - I thought I may have posted these before - but....



1. Mislabled hybrid
2. E. x versicolor 'Sulphureum'
3. 'Beni-chidori'
4. E. alpinum
5. 3 forms of E. colchicum
6. 'Yokihi'
7. E. x yongianum 'Niveum'
8. E. pauciflorum
9. E. leptorrhizum
10. 'Enchantress'
11. E. pubescens
12. E. koreanum
13. E. x warleyense 'Orangekonigin'
14. E. chlorandrum
15. 'Pink Elf'
16. 'Amber Queen'
17. E. x rubrum
18. E. x cantabrigiense
19. 'Pink Champagne'
20. E. stellulatum
21. 'Rubinkrone'
22. E. brachyrrhizum
23. E. acuminatum
24. E. x perralchicum 'Frohnleiten'




1. 'Red Maximum'
2. E. diphyllum dwarf white
3. E. flavum
4. 'Akane'
5. E. pubigerum
6. 'William Stearn'
7. E. macrosepalum
8. 'Korin'
9. 'Azusa'
10. 2 forms of E. colchicum'
11. E. lishihchenii
12. E. dolichostemon
13. E. 'Queen Esta'
14. E. setosum
15. E. x versicolor 'Cupreum'
16. 'Domino'
17. Lable is destroyed (Somewhat like 'Mugo Van Pen')
18. 'Stormcloude'
19. E. x rubrum 'Sweetheart'
Ranzania japonica as a naval.


 Oh my word - I did post them before!  http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=3374.msg387577#msg387577
  

[TheOnionMan]

Maggi, always worth a repeat viewing of these fine Epimedium flower montages, so well done, and they have value as an ID verification tool as well.

[Véronique Macrelle]

what a pretty picture of flowers of epimedium!

far from this expertise in Epimedium, I have my young foot of Epimedium menbranaceum which gratifies me of its first flowering.

[Leena]

I got seeds also from a friend here in Finland from her 'Amber Queen' and also they have germinated well, and it looks like there is great variation between plants and their leaves. It will be interesting to see how they look like when they flower.

First of my ex 'Amber Queen' is flowering now. The other seedlings don't flower yet this year and they are smaller, this is a taller plant.

[Gabriela]

what a pretty picture of flowers of epimedium!

far from this expertise in Epimedium, I have my young foot of Epimedium menbranaceum which gratifies me of its first flowering.

I'm partial to the spidery flowered Epimedium Véronique, this one is no exception

[Gabriela]

First of my ex 'Amber Queen' is flowering now. The other seedlings don't flower yet this year and they are smaller, this is a taller plant.

That's very nice Leena! It retained the amber cup from the 'Amber Queen', and I like the creamy/white flowers. Mine are all yellow and there are plenty of yellow flowered cv.
The foliage is also beautiful, your friend must have some long leaf, evergreen species around.

[Gabriela]

I recently took pictures with the Epimedium seedlings resulted from the cross I mentioned in this thread last year.
Many thanks to Mark for advice on hybridising and to Rick for the idea to cross pollinate both ways.

I collected and shared with friends seeds from other Epimediums but for myself I concentrated only in this cross pollinations and sown just the obtained seeds.
I may not have been 100% successful but in any case it is exciting to look at these beautiful seedlings.

Epimedium lishihchenii x acuminatum


Epimedium acuminatum x lischihchenii (I obtained far more seeds than ever from acuminatum, so pollination helped for sure)

[Leena]

Gabriela, all seeds that I got from you have germinated well and are growing inside under lamps. The first ones started to show germination already in January in my root cellar. I took one pot inside then, the rest in the beginning of February when they were really going to germinate even in +2C. All are doing well. Thank you! I haven't pricked them out yet, because there isn't room inside, but I will do it in April when it is warm enough in the green house.

[Gabriela]

Glad to hear about this Leena
They are so lovely to grow inside under lights, not fussy whatsoever! I also prick them out late from lack of space but they do fine.

Even outside I don't want to deal with many little pots so what I do is plant all seedlings of one variety together in a large rectangular container (used for window/balcony flowers). They grow well like this for 2 years.

[Leena]

We have had quite cold early May this year, the past week it has been below zero in my garden almost every night. Coldest has been -5 in two nights and mostly -2-3C. I didn't think to protect Epimediums, and now noticed that their flower stems have suffered from cold and most of the flowers are gone. In the first picture is what I think frost damage. Next year I will remember that they are not so hardy.
Only one of my ex 'Amber Queen' seedlings flowers survived, and it is quite pretty.
'Orange Königin' and Epimedium x rubrum hasn't been affected by cold, they are flowering ok in spite of cold nights.