Epimedium - various threads gathered together here

[Hoy]

Rick,

You certainly have quite a lot of nice Epimediums!


And you also, Gabriela.


Before I got those big brown slugs I had some nice plants also. A few of the biggest clones still survive but young plants disappear in a year or two as the new shoots are devoured by the slugs and snails.

[Leena]

Rick,
you have  so many really beautiful Epimediums!
I like E.'Beni-Goromo', beautiful flowers and really nice autumn foliage!
Also the cloud of flowers in E.brevicornu are lovely. I have nothing like that in my seedlings (yet, they are not very old).
Here it is difficult to buy cultivars of Epimedium, except the most common ones. It is possible to order from special nurseries from Europe, though, but I haven't done it,
because there are so many seedlings still growing, and I want to see them first:).
It was good to see E.lishihchenii, I have seedlings from it which may flower next spring for the first time. Their new foliage has the same color as in your picture, very nice.

[Leena]

Gabriela, thanks for those pictures. E.stellulatum is a cloud of flowers in your garden.
Mine looks similar to your hybrid, and actually I like it because there is more yellow in the flowers:).

Rick, 'Amber Queen' is also here just in border if it is hardy enough. It doesn't flower reliably every year, but when it does, it is very beautiful, and long flowering and I like how flowers grow so high above the foliage. It should be evergreen but here its foliage gets very damaged during winter.

[Gabriela]

I haven't grown from seed on purpose, but I do get a few seedling volunteers now and then.  Nothing 'worthy' has come of them, though.
Epimedium 'Amber Queen' - marginally hardy here.  I had it for 3 years.

I don't know why you call it marginally hardy Rick, for me it looks like doing perfectly well.
Here's mine, looking just the same (a bit older too). Some years the flowers can be destroyed by late frosts, but that's happening for all others as well.


And here's the E. lishihch. although I'm sure I already showed it before. It's hard not to take pictures with it every spring.


In my experience, the Chinese species are the best parents to obtain interesting seedlings. From E. davidii and another unknown parent I obtained I nice one, which I previously shown.
And there is another one which I will keep; I call it 'Curly'. The foliage is extremely leathery and with waved margins, seen better on new foliage.
Picture taken yesterday when we had 15C and noon.

New foliage is bronze in early spring then changes to green.

[Leena]

I don't know why you call it marginally hardy Rick, for me it looks like doing perfectly well.

I lost my 'Amber Queen' in winter 2021-22, so I have now lost it twice, and don't try again, but I'm happy I have seedlings from it (not my plant but still ex AQ).
Most of them also suffered a lot during that winter, and it has taken them two years to recover, and they are not yet back to what they were.
Still, couple of the seedlings seemed to be hardier, and they flowered this spring well.
Third and fourth picture are from Gabriela's seed, and in the last picture there are more seedlings growing:). Hopefully they flower next spring!

[Leena]

One more Epimedium grown from seed, this is a hardy one and flowers later than ex AQ seedlings.

[Gabriela]

The ex. Amber Queen seedlings are looking good! By the look of the shape of flowers/spurs I would say the father is E.  lishihchenii.

Last year when it was very dry (right now is raining, so it's not that bad like 2022 was) I was pleasantly surprised by the way all hybrids behaved.
They are certainly more drought resistant than their parents.

The last seedling has an interesting cup, and with the shorter spurs, maybe a hybrid from E. ecalcaratum?

[Leena]

The last seedling has an interesting cup, and with the shorter spurs, maybe a hybrid from E. ecalcaratum?

It is possible, the person who gave me seeds had many Epimediums, but most with lost label.
Is E.ecalcaratum late flowering? If the mother plant was AQ, then the father had to contribute to the flowering time of this Epimedium.

[Gabriela]

It is possible, the person who gave me seeds had many Epimediums, but most with lost label.
Is E.ecalcaratum late flowering? If the mother plant was AQ, then the father had to contribute to the flowering time of this Epimedium.

I don't remember the flowering time of E. ecalcaratum Leena.
It is interesting that this is also an AQ seedlings. From all the seedlings I got from it (at least the ones I had the chance to see flowering) not one had this type of cup and such short spurs.

[Leena]

It is interesting that this is also an AQ seedlings. From all the seedlings I got from it (at least the ones I had the chance to see flowering) not one had this type of cup and such short spurs.

These seeds were from someone in Finland (2015)  , and she had many Epimediums, but no labels.

[Leena]

One of the seedlings from ex 'Amber Queen' from Gabriela is now flowering. I hope the rest will be flowering in the spring.
This one is a nice yellow!