I love hepaticas indicating spring has officially arrived.
Here are some of mine blooming today.
hepaticas
Another.
One more.
Hi, weerobin! Your hepaticas are beautiful.
I discovered my first last year at the Northwest Perennial Alliance plant sale. I hadn't heard of these before that. Unfortunately, I have not seen anything come up this year, so I'm concerned that I lost it. We had a lot of snow and temperature fluctuation this winter and I'm combatting heavy soil, so that might be the problem.
Do you know of a good online source for plants or seeds?
Do you want native or hybridized? I have natives.
debc
I have never heard of these plants, but I think they're just precious. I googled them and found a website that had a japanese variety for sale for $375. Wow!
Sarah
OH geez!!! cough, choke!!!
debc
No Kidding! But then I also found domestic ones for $10 and $12. Much more reasonable.
Can anyone recommend a source for these little gems? I'm in north Texas and even though the plant descriptions say that I can grow them in my zone, I'd like to talk to someone who might know if I could grow them here or whether I'd be wasting my money. I thought they would go nicely on the edge of my hellebore/hosta/fern/heuchera bed.
Thanks.
Sarah
I like natives or hybridized. I guess I'm more into natives because they tend to be a little tougher. Being from Missouri, are you dealing with clay soil? I'm wondering if I just didn't get enough amendment into the soil where they are and they just couldn't handle so much clay.
I just love the look of them and I have lots of woodland space. I meant to post a picture from an old garden that I saw on tour last year in Seattle, which is where I first saw them, but I can't find it. It's the one I bought that I haven't seen any sign of yet. The leaves were chartreuse and the centers yellow.
I love Hepaticas - they are about the first thing to bloom in my garden. Every year I go to a small local garden centre and buy 2 - 1 pink and 1 blue please! 2 years ago I splurged and bought a double.
Its been a long cold winter here and the beds are still covered in snow so it will be a while before I see tham.
Here is a pic from last year.
Gorgeous. I don't understand why I'm not finding them at the nurseries here . . . that's kind of crazy.
Katie, I haven't noticed them at the nurseries here either. Since I'm in hot, dry Texas, I am taking that as a hint that they might not be an easy plant to grow here. Don't know why you're not seeing them there, though.
Sarah
I thought they needed cooler weather than we get from 7b and south.
That's what I suspect also. But I saw them listed as good in zones 3-8. That's why I want to find out more! LOL.
There was some online nursery I've seen that not only listed the normal zones (for low temps,) but also listed heat zones. I can't find it again. Bluestone Perennials is good about saying if things don't tolerate humidity well, but I really liked the one with the heat zones.
I suspect you may be right they do much better in cooler zones. But here the two large nurseries never have it - only a couple of small specialist nurseries. One of these is in a residential area and the back yard is filled with the plants they sell. Their Hepaticas have been planted for many years so they are quite large - a great show in the spring.
Just to give you something to drool over: This is a specialist Canadian nursery and they sell Japanese Hepaticas - likely to break the bank to get one though!
http://www.thimblefarms.com/japanese%20hepatica.html
Here's a couple of US sources.
http://www.thimblefarms.com/japanese%20hepatica.html
http://www.hillsidenursery.biz/plants.htm
This message was edited Mar 17, 2009 11:38 AM
I'm inclined to think they'll do okay here as the Japanese have obviously started pushing them to the extremes. Plants that do well in Japan seem to do well here.
Of course, I don't think I'm at the point where I'll be spending 275 on a single plant, but they certainly are lovely to drool over (I have to be careful, though, I've been known to justify some pretty crazy plant purchases after having drooled awhile LOL . . .).
Thanks for the sources, fancyvan.
Yes, Thimble Farms was the one that had the Japanese variety for $375. Pretty, but for me, not THAT pretty.
If anyone would want to "try" them, why not trade first to see how they do rather than buy and possibly waste their money????
debc
Absolutely!!
Check plant trading
I've had hepaticas doing fine in sultry humid St Louis for years now.
So they seem to tolerate heat / humidity OK.
I order from dozens of mail-order nurseries every year, so I'm not sure where I got most of mine.
I have ordered from Eastern Plant Specialties - they send a bag of bare-root plants in very early spring.
I think their price is the best I've found. You have to be able to plant them as soon as they arrive. But I've had good success.
But lots of other nurseries carry them, including Greer Gardens, Arrowhead Alpines, Evermay Nursery, Bon Vivant Nursery, Lazy S Nursery, Mt Tahoma Nursery, ... I'm sure there are others, but off the top of my head, I'm pretty sure these nurseries carry them.
Asiatica Nursery also carries them. If you're not familiar w/ Asiatica, they have some of the most choice cultivars of woodland perennials. They have things I've never seen elsewhere, so I love their catalog. But the price is accordingly high....
Thank you!!
Well there is a ways to go yet ( supposed to have another snowstorm tomorrow!) but it was a nice morning and rooting around in the leaf mulch a bit on a north bed where all the snow has melted I found these little bits of blue!
First pic for my garden 09 folder!
Fancyvan, isn't it a wonderful feeling!
The first sign of spring is always something special!
I've had a couple week's headstart - enjoy it!
And to see the blue so early on - right as they are emerging. These little guys are so charming. Hope you're done with snow for the year. I hope we all are.
Afraid not - this is the view of the back yard this morning!
I went out on the hill yesterday to get some plants there before they get to that part with their excavating. A couple of people wanted hepaticas and ginger, and a few wanted trout lilies. The hepaticas had flowers just beginning to unfurl from the stems and the flowers on the ginger were on the plants just not quite mature!! Trout lilies were blooming. The pic below is where they are removing the hill.
debc
Bummer, fancyvan, that's a lot of snow. Snow is pretty, but not in March!!
Estrail1rider, you weren't kidding. It really does look like they're removing the hill. What are they shoring it up with?
Nothing!!! It is all shale and the layers are standing up straight!! We have some in our back yard and I can't get anything to grow there because the front face just slides down in the spring. The phlox I planted at the top is now in my flower bed at the bottom!!! I happened to think that this year I am going to try planting sweetpeas a bit farther back at the top and maybe they will cover some of it up as it hangs down. It is ugly. They really are flattening it. The hill did end just a few feet basck from the large trees that are close to the road. Our house is at the top of one of our hills. You can see where I was standing at the edge of the veggie garden...now plant holding garden...and the drop off where that end of our property goes down to the stream below.
Debbie
We used not to be able to see the very old farm house in the distance. He lives behind it. After his parents passed away, he kept his pot-bellied pig in it. Now there is someone renting it!!! UGH!!!
There are some really nice homes out here but there are old not so nice homes scattered around. We live in the Jefferson National Forest. From the front of our house there is another hill...wooded. You can' tell from here but just over that ridge, there is a new upscale subdivision that is not all completed yet. Spreading out from the university, VA Tech.
Debbie
I don't know. I think I'd complain to the developer or whatever regulatory body approved the development. De-stabilizing your property isn't right . . .
That part belongs solely to the neighbor and is not developing it. Our side of the drainage should not be affected. Was just a pic showing where all of it is being taken down and where I collect native plants as they go back farther. They started earlier this year than I expected and a lot of things are not up yet. The hepaticas are beginning to bloom as well as the ginger and trout lilies.
Debbie
Wow nice snow photos. Ours is gone!!! Yeah. Trout lilies? Love them. Have been looking all over for them. Love the links on the hepaticas. But am sure they have the decimals points in the wrong place! Very cute flowers. Love the dainty spring flowers. They seem to always make you smile. Ronna
I didn't find hepaticas at some of the other sites, but these guys have a few hepaticas and erythronium that are reasonably priced:
http://www.backyardgardener.com/mttahoma/tahoma.html
I've ordered from Mt Tahoma for years.
Their selection is quite interesting, though their focus is on rock garden plants.
Their prices are good, but beware the plants are small.
But they're healthy and I've had good luck with them.
Which is why I continue to order from them.
Thanks, weerobin, for the heads up. I didn't find that many places were offering hepaticas (or the woodland flowerse I'm trying to get more of) right now, so I guess I'll have to be patient. I'm hoping to make a trip to Graham this summer at some point to see them, now that I know they're there!!
Fee free to post more of your woodland blossoms. I'm inspired. I have lots of woodland beds and am changing my focus to those things that will do well there.
I've just started planting woodland plants the past couple years.
It took me many prior years ripping out all the invasive eurasian honeysuckle mess.
It was amazing to see the woodland spring to life without any specific planting,
once the choking overgrowth of honeysuckle was gone.
It was a spontaneous eruption of wild phlox, trillium, geranium, bloodroot, mayapple, celandine poppy..
It inspired me to try out a bunch of other woodland treasures.
So the experiment is just getting underway - a lot of disasters, but some really nice successes.
I'm eager to see what survived from last year and I'm ready to try out some new ones!
Just waiting for this seasons mail orders to start arriving.
Instead of buying, why not trade??? I have lots of woodland plants on my trade list!!!
debbie