Epimedium - various threads gathered together here

[Renate Brinkers]

Do anyone knows whether it is a question of culture, the place where they grow or the species why some loose most or all of the leafes in winter and some keep all leafes the whole year? I have not a lot Epimedium but for example `Lilafee´allways loose every leaf and builds new one in spring and E.accuminatum never looses one leaf.

[ChrisB]

Hi Renate,

Could your epimedium be E. x warleyense?  I have this and it is that orange-y shade.  Sorry, I have no idea why some lose all their foliage and others don't the big ones I have that are easy to grow are E. perralchicum and these don't lose their leaves at all, I cut them all off in February so I can enjoy the new foliage and flowers.

[maggiepie]

Lori, thanks for the info, you must have a fabulous reference library.

Shelagh, thanks for mentioning the SSS, must be a nice surprise when you find one.

Hans, good to know your seeds germinated, I wonder how long the seedlings will take to flower.

[Renate Brinkers]

Chris,
thanks for your help, I checked some pictures of E. x warleyense and I think, you are right. I love this colour.

[Hans J]

Renate :

I suppose your plant is E.x warleyense 'Orangekönigin'
.....wait - until my will flower we can comepare ...

[Greenmanplants]

Christine,
I think your leaf problem is windburn, sometimes happens, more often with new foliage.

Renate,
Some of the species are deciduous. E. grandiflorum E. x youngianum cultivars which are the older garden hybrids, also E. brevicornu and E. alpinum.

The Chinese ones do not like it too dry in summer, Scotland should be ideal! Hampshire is not.  The Japanese ones are not too keen on alkaline situations and also need some summer moisture although not as fussy as the chinese.  The old European ones are very tough plants and will practically survive in dust once established.
Cheers John H Hampshire

[Tony Willis]

I had in last year on my E.pinnatum ssp.colchicum fertil seeds - I have sent it to a friend in England and he has confirm me that they have germinatet .

I had the seeds from Hans and they have germinated well.I also collected a dozen seeds from a number of my plants and at the moment have eight seedlings up.I expect these arose from crosses between my different plants as I only have one of each.

[Hans J]

here some new pics from today :



Epimedium X youngianum 'Roseum'



Epimedium platypetalum



Epimedium grandiflorum 'Lilafee'

[Hans J]

Renate :

here is a pic of my



Epimedium X warleyense 'Orangekoenigin'

[Paul T]

Hans,

With all of these out in flower at the same time, do you try to hybridise them?  I never think of it when mine are in flower, but it is something I want to do at some point just to see what results.  I think trying seed from Ep hybrids would be very cool, never quite knowing what you would end up with.

[Hans J]

Paul ,

  no 

I always prefer more species ....and I do not like making more hybrids ....
a other problem is the room ...

[Paul T]

Hans,

Fair enough, each to his own.  I can see both sides of the coin on that, wanting to make sure that the pure strain is kept for the species.... but I still can't help wondering what exactly would end up as a result of crossing one thing with another.   And the other problem with species is that if you don't want hybrids then you need to have the plants completely isolated and hand pollinated to guarantee that what you are collecting is pure species seed.  Most of us don't have the space to undertake that sort of thing unfortunately.    It all comes down to space, doesn't it! 

[ChrisB]

We saw some very interesting new ones today, The Edrom people are getting new ones from Japan.  Can't wait to see what comes of that.  I bought E. 'Amber Queen'.  Flowers are large and quite tall.  But they had more.... hmmmm

[Renate Brinkers]

John,
thanks, that helps a lot.

[Renate Brinkers]

Hans,
great new pics.
It seems as the flowers of `Orangekoenigin´are a bit lighter orange but I don´t feel able to decide whether the difference is big enough to say: It is E. x warleyens or it is `Orangekoenigin´. I will try to find informations about the diffences between the species and `Orangekoenigin´.