Tell me all about your Epimediums

I only have E davidii, a nice yellow. I am planting some E pinnatum var colchicum in my new dry shade garden. I ordered from Edelweiss Perennials, he sells 6 for $40.50 which seemed like a good price. I couldn't help myself I also ordered an orange one E. x warleyense.
I just bought "planting the Dry Shade Garden" by Graham Rice, he says it is the European species and hybrids that do well in dry shade and he suggests about a half a dozen. He says the Asian species (E grandiflorum, E. x youngianum forms and others) like shade, but want some water. Maybe that is why my davidii is surviving but not thriving. I will water it this summer.

I responded to your recommendation of Edelweiss on another thread. They look really great.

I do have one hydrangea that lives in a large pot. It was a "florist" hydrangea gift for Mother's Day and I was never quite sure of the species (later found to be German origin and only hardy to z7). It does live in the garage over the winter, semi-dormant. Other than shrub cuttings, I generally don't hold stuff over in pots but will have to start considering that option.

My epimedium catalog from Garden Vision Epimediums came today. So many to choose from!

I love the image of your puppy!

That was Aspen. Aspen Hill is the name of my place in northern virginia in memory of her. Wonderful dog, wonderful friend.

My epimediums are just beginning to pop.
Epimedium x versicolor Cherry Tart is the first pic - this is the first spray which opened last weekend.
I can see out the window that it's loaded now.
This is a different cultivar of the Sulphureum species mentioned above in the thread.
Sulphureum is a little more vigorous I think, but I still like the more colorful flowers of Cherry Tart.
The 2nd pic is another cultivar of e x versicolor called e x versicolor Versicolor,
which I think is a pretty lame name. Flowers have a peachy cast to the otherwise basic yellow.
Any of these e x versicolor types of pretty good groundcovers.

This message was edited Apr 12, 2013 5:29 AM

"robin", those are quality pictures of beautiful flowers.

I am glad to hear that these plants have nice enough looking foliage but I am wondering for how long epimediums do flower in the spring i.e. more than....2 weeks?

weerobin - hope your garden survived the nasty weather yesterday. I like the more substantial flower of those two versicolors. I will definitely have to look into those.

The epimediums that keep catching my eye in the catalog are grandiflorums. They mentioned that getting an assortment of different species would span a longer blooming period though, so I will try that.

I overlooked Epimediums untilsomeone gave me one.
Epimedium Lilie
I cant have enough.I have a yellow flowered one Froenleten

ge - is that 'Lilafee' or 'Lilie'? The former is supposed to be a prolific bloomer but mine is still young and doesn't look as full as yours.

Lilafee,thanks Cindy.
It was moved last year and we also had a horrible spring and summer.I have a pix of it just loaded

Very few plants flower for more than a couple of weeks at most. I never know how long my blooms last because it is still pretty cool here when they bloom, they are in a shade garden and it is a very busy time of year with gardening and I guess I am neglectful. Epimedium foliage with its delicate stems looks like it is floating in my plant.

Almost any plant I can quickly think of has a bloom period that is no more than 2 weeks except for rebloomers. Plants that make multiple buds that open in succession, like lilies or bee balm, might seem like they bloom longer, but the blooms still don't last that long.

Epimedium plants bloom with a burst, most buds opening at the same time. Mother Nature makes sure they are noticeable. I have been looking for photos of full blooms, but it is a tedious procedure. Here are a few early shots from different years. Photos certainly help to refresh the memory.

GE, your Lilafee looks fabulous! I have one also and it is a very reliable bloomer.
And I love it's low stature, dense habit and nice foliage as well.
Rouge, my epimediums bloom a couple weeks at most.
And fairly early in spring, so not much presence in summer.
But I have so many epimediums, I can extend the season to a month or more.
And many have nice foliage, if bunnies don't find them, so I like them even when not blooming.
And Cindy, thanks for your concern about or storms.
It was scary enough that I had to leave work early.
The suburb I work in was where one of the tornados hit, so I'm grateful to have missed it.
We had heavy rain & wind in my suburb, but nothing too bad.
But I have a big pine tree which fell against the house - but doesn't look like any injury.
I'll have to figure out what to do about it this weekend...

This message was edited Apr 12, 2013 7:01 PM

Whoa! Sorry to hear about the tree on the house. Tricky to get it removed without doing more damage to house or plantings. Good luck.
You're right, weerobin, about extending the Epimedium bloom times with different varieties. Some, like 'Rose Queen', are the first and others are last, like 'Niveum', are a month later.

Wee, I hope your house didn't sustainn any damage. And thank goodness the tornados left you alone!

I was trying to think of flowers that were not bushes. Hydrangeas seem to last forever and even dry in bloom. the reason I decided not to mention bushes is that they fall into a different kind of category, like rosebushes that bloom all summer. Plants like calla lilies (zantedeschia) have a bloom that lasts a long time, but that is not the part we think of as the bloom (scientifically). Aroids that send up a spathe have lots of insignificant blooms. Actually I was thinking in terms of epimediums. As Weerobin says, if you have enough plants, its seems like they have a long bloom because one of the plants is always in bloom.

I look at my garden in that fashion. I always want to have something in bloom. By mid to late August when most plants are done, the sedum is still in bloom and so are the dahlias. Also echinacea and platycodon keep blooming, but the individual blooms dont last that long. I will keep an eye on the garden to refresh my memory. For four months there are lilies in bloom because there are so many; irises, too. Monarda will keep blooming if you deadhead it, but the actual blooms themselves don't last that long.

I have found that trycyrtis (toad lily) and japanese anemone extend the bloom season - both of these start late Aug / early Sep.

I really agree about the japanese anemones. One of the things I like about them is that the foliage is really beautiful early in the season, much like a groundcover and then the blooms can last for weeks in August and September - even October.

I read Pam Duthie's book "Continuous Bloom" and was inspred to really extend the seasons. But I also plan my garden around fall, since in my climate I find that there are plants that are intereting in fall that are pretty early in the season (anemones and ornamental grasses amongst them).

We had a beautiful day yesterday, so I wanted to get going with all the garden chores.
But I wasted most of the day trying to get someone to remove my fallen tree.
The guy was supposed to be here from 1-5, never showed up... meanwhile, it's still leaning.

Edited to say I'm not sure how my post has anything to do with epimediums ... sorry for hijacking!


This message was edited Apr 14, 2013 7:07 AM

No problem ,there will be so much to talk about when epies are blooming.

Back on topic, here's a cute epimedium from my yard yesterday.
I searched thru the leaf debris, but couldn't find a tag, so I'm not sure which one.
But it shows how variable epimedium flowers can be.

Robin: that is so sweet.I like the pendulous form of the bloom.
Here are some I just ordered from Edelweise and planted last year.Hope to see blooms in May.
#1 After Midnight
#2 grandiflorum Purplr Prince
#3 Ogsiuie I cant wait to see these.Larger blooms than many varieties.

I ran across a plant label for epimedium ogisui in the yard yesterday.
But alas, that is apparently all that remains of Mr Ogisui.
I'll wait for posts of yours.

This message was edited Apr 14, 2013 11:33 AM

Its too soon to see if he returns. The established ones are just appearing.

Here is Honorine Jobert on October 24 last year at my new house. It is one of the very latest to bloom (and of course last year was weird). I watered them, so they laughed at the drought (first pic).

And here they are at my old house on October 23, 2008. I started with four plants, and they spread. The myrica pennsylvanica behind them, which suckers, held them back.

While Wirbelwind has been much more hesitant. I find it doesn't really spread much at all.

Wild Swan is gorgeous, but I saw that it was rated zone 6-8. Too much caution by the sellers?

http://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/plants/3283/wild-swan-hybrid-anemone.php

Tis a beautiful plant but I would like the zone to be a couple of digits sooner,more like 4-8 I'm Z6 and when the first digit is 6 it makes me cautious.

Donna your Joberts at the old house are just beautiful.

That explaines my whole garden. Thats why gardening is such a thrill. Some castaway areas turn out better than the planned places.
It took me a year before I took more time choosing plants.

rouge: I bought a lot and was given a lot of plants my first year here.
As you stated above the impulse has a direct correlation tothe amount of space I have.
Answer:Not much space here. I didnt pay close attention to zone when ordering plants at first.
Now I check zone in a few places,check PF to see the real plant in a real garden with real colors.I can even detect a wesites photos of a plant of interest in PF.
I photoshop the colors of dark purples to be sure the website's contrast hasnt created a dark purple out of a dark pink as in the case of Midnight lily I ordered thinking it was darkpurple.
Most of this fiddling around is to save physical labor.

Oh. Your epimediums have names. I usually know the names, but most of mine were diivisions from someone else. I love them! They're up in the back of the garden so I have to take a tour to see them--but right now they're loaded with buds. I wish they'd hurry!

An important feature in some situations is being able to compete with the weeds.
The e x versicolor types can hold their own despite a negligent gardener's disregard.
Sadly, this shameful scene is in my yard ...

I'm still madly uncovering Epimediums, matted down with last fall's leaves. The cold weather this spring kept me indoors instead of beginning garden cleanup weeks ago. 'Niveum' forms such a tight mound and practically pushes the leaves out of the way. Lucky for me it blooms after the leaves are up.

My sulphurums are coming up "naked". I have always had to cut away the foliage. Not this year. All of the old foliage is gone. Weird.

Typos! Ack! Proofread, Donna!

This message was edited Apr 30, 2013 6:42 PM