Hepatica

[David Nicholson]

John,

I too would welcome some information on how you grow and where you grow if you have the time please.

[johngennard]

All of the hepaticas shown are grown in plastic pots and under glass but with only the very minimum frost protection.I use the formula reccomended by Ashwood,that is equal parts JI2,leafmould and perlite.I do grow several hepaticas outside including pyrenaica and transylvanica and most of it's cultivars.They are completely hardy and I have patches of transylvanica and triloba that have been there for more than 30yrs.

[David Nicholson]

Thanks for taking the time to do that John-it gives hope to us "lesser beings" to give 'em a go. Can I take it that your garden is particularly shady?

[johngennard]

Not reaally,I have some shady areas but the long established transylvanicas and trilobas are in a fairly open situation and when they were planted 30+ yrs.ago they were in a fully exposed position with no shade whatsoever.I find that they are very versatile and will grow in sun or shade so go on have a go.   

[johngennard]

A couple more
    japonica from seed.jpg
    Daishihou.jpg

[mark smyth]

great plants, info etc

I'll ask a question that got debate in the last forum

remove the leaves or leave them on?

[David Nicholson]

Not reaally,I have some shady areas but the long established transylvanicas and trilobas are in a fairly open situation and when they were planted 30+ yrs.ago they were in a fully exposed position with no shade whatsoever.I find that they are very versatile and will grow in sun or shade so go on have a go.   

I am sorely tempted John.

[johngennard]

In answer to your question Mark,I think the answer has to be remove.Firstly ,by the time that the new flower buds start to form, the leaves of most plants are dead or nearly dead anyway and add nothing to the appearance of the plant.
I did have a few plants which had retained their leaves in a very healthy condition up until 3 weeks ago and it was my intention to keep the leaves on but I found that the leaves were impeding the emergence of the flowers whereupon I removed the central leaves.However I decided to remove the remainder as I was unhappy with the overall look of the plant.In addition those plants that do retain a healthy crop of leaves also produce another crop of healthy leaves and would make the task of removing the old leaves very irksome indeed.
That is my opinion for what it is worth.

[Maggi Young]

Given the quality of John Gennard's plants, I'm going to go along with his "remove" advice in future.
John, would you say that early January would be a good time to remove the leaves?  They may have given a degree of protection until then and any new growth will hardly have begun, I would think. Or would you do this earlier?

[johngennard]

Maggi,in my answer I was referring to my plants in pots and therfore under glass so the protection is'nt required.I think under protection that you could remove the leaves from Nov.onwards.I remove progressively as the leaves show signs of age.

As far as my plants in the open ground are concerned I would remove transylvanica in Jan.and nobilis/pyrenaica a little later.

[Maggi Young]

Thank you for this clarification, John. Ours are all either in the open garden or in uncovered plunges, we just take one in to the glasshouse on occasion to adore at close quarters!

[dan]

if anyone has anything really special to swap i might trade in my jajpanese hepaticas! (gasp!) i'm particularly interested in forms of transsilvanica and european nobilis

[chris]

John wonderful flowers, time for showing some plants from me:
Hep.jap.'Picotee'
Hep.jap.'Tsumabeni'
Hep.jap.'Yuki Warabe'
Hep.jap.'Hana Kage' not fully open yet

[David Nicholson]

Chris, beautiful plants and fantastic pictures. Thank you

[chris]

thanks David, the pictures are from my new camera and now the colors are verry good I find