EPIMEDIUMS

	flowercolor	Groundcover use	Solitary usek	foliage	Other specifications
European species and their hybrids
E. alpinum	crème white red	x		evergreen	Smallflowered
E. pubigerum KP 040902	crème white red	x		evergreen	smallflowerd very tall selection
E. x peralchium 'Lichtenberg'	yellow	x		evergreen	bright yellow
E. x warleyense	light orange			evergreen	vigorous growth
E. x rubrum	crème white	x		semi- evergreen	vigorous growth
E. x versicolor ‘Sulpureum’	white-yellow	x		evergreen	vigorous growth
E. x versicolor ‘Neosulphureum’	white-yellow	x		evergreen	vigorous growth
E. x’Black Sea'	pastel orange	x	x	evergreen	Dark winter foliage

Chinese species and their hybrids
E. acuminatum L575	Light pink purpler		x	evergreen	Very floriferous
E. acuminatum 'Night Mistress'	roze purper		x	evergreen	Very dark richcoloured flowers
E. x ‘Amanogawa'	wit brons		x	evergreen	Very floriferous
E. brevicornu Og. 88010	White yellow centre		x	deciduous	Small star shaped flowers
E. brevicornu f. rotundatum 82010	White yellow centre		x	deciduous	Small star shaped flowers
E. chlorandrum Og. 94003	light yellow		x	evergreen	Robust plant habbit
E. davidii EMR 4125	yellow	x	x slow	evergreen	floriferous
E. dewuense	White brown		x	evergreen	Lovely colouration young foliage
E. dolichostemon	White brown		x	evergreen	Attractive long shaped leaflets
E. dolichostemon Og 80010	White brown		x	evergreen	Attractive long shaped leaflets
E.x ’Domino’cc 990614	White/ bordeaux		x	evergreen	Very floriferous, unique colourblend
E. ecalcaratum Og 93082	Yellow		x	evergreen	Clone with nearly spurless flowers
E. elachyphyllum	Pink		x	evergreen	Dwarf Epimedium
E. 'Enchantress'	roze	x	x slow	evergreen	Very floriferous
E. epsteinii cpc. 940347	White Bordeaux	x	x slow	evergreen
E. fargesii Og 93057	White brown		x	evergreen	Attractive long shaped
E. fargesii 'Pink Constelation' Og. 93023	Pink purple		x	evergreen	Attractive long shaped
E. flavum Og 92036	yellow		x	evergreen	floriferous
E. franchetii	yellow		x	evergreen	Lovely coloration young foliage
E. franchetii 'Brimstone Butterfly' Og 87001	yellow		x	evergreen	Very robust selection
E. hunanense	yellow		x	evergreen	Recent introduction!
E. illicifolium og 93020	yellow		x	evergreen	Narrow, spiny foliage
E. x ‘Kaguyahime'	Pink purple		x	evergreen	Very floriferous
E. leptorhizum Og Y 44	pink	x	x slow	evergreen	Large pink flowers
E. lishichenii Og 96024	yellow		x	evergreen	Lovely coloration young foliage
E. lishichenii cc 95007	yellow		x	evergreen	Large leaves with impressed veining
E. mikinorii cc 990001	Pink purple		x	evergreen	Lovely coloration young foliage
E. myrianthum	white yellow		x	evergreen	small flowered
E. ogisui Og.91001	wit		x	evergreen	Delicate pure white flowers
E. x omeiense 'Myriad Years'	White purple		x	evergreen	Very robust hybrid
E. x omeiense ‘Pale Fire Sibling’	White cream		x	evergreen	Creamy white flowers
E. x omeiense 'Stormcloud'	Bronze brown		x	evergreen	Unique flower colour
E. pauciflorum	pink	x	x slow	evergreen	Spiny foliage
E. platypetalum Og 93085	yellow	x	x slow	evergreen	Long flowering season
E. pubescens Og.91003	White bronze		x	evergreen	small flowered
E. rhizomatosum Og. 92114	yellow	x	x slow	evergreen	Very long flowering season
E. sagittatum	white yellow		x	evergreen	small flowered
E. shuichengense cc030175	yellow		x	evergreen	young foliage, strongly mottled
E. stellulatum 'Wudang star'	white yellow centered		x	evergreen	Small star shaped flowers
E. stellulatum ‘Long Leaf Form’ cc970051	white		x	evergreen	Long arrow shaped leaflets
E. species nova cc	yellow		x	evergreen	Very floriferous
E. species monophyll	pink		x	evergreen	Large simple leaves
E. sutchuenense cc 990394	pink	x	x	evergreen	Groundcovering
E. x ‘Togen'	pink	x	x slow	evergreen	Very floriferous
E. wushanense Og 93019	yellow		x slow	evergreen	Atractive longshaped leaflets
E. wushanense 'Caramel' Og.92009	yellow-caramel		x	evergreen	Attractive long shaped leaflets
E. wushanense nova	White-cream		x	evergreen	Atractive longshaped leaflets

Japanese species and their hybrids
E. grandiflorum var. higoense 'Bandit'	white		x	deciduous	Dark margins young foliage
E. grandiflorum var. higoense 'saturn'	white		x	deciduous	Reddish brown margins young foliage
E. grandiflorum 'Lilafee'	lila		x	deciduous	floriferous
E. grandiflorum 'Mount Kitadake'	lila-purple		x	deciduous
E. grandiflorum 'Nanum'	white		x	deciduous	Dark margins young foliage
E. grandiflorum 'Queen Esta'	lila pink		x	deciduous
E. grandiflorum 'Shikinomai'	white		x	deciduous	Long flowering season
E. grandiflorum 'Violet Nanum'	violet-lila		x	deciduous	Dark margins young foliage
E. grandiflorum 'White Queen'	white		x	deciduous	Large flowered white
E. grandiflorum 'Yellow princess'	light yellow		x	deciduous	Unique yellow floriferous form
E. grandiflorum ssp. koreanum 'La Rocaille'	cream		x	deciduous	Cornered large leaflets
E. diphyllum	white		x	deciduous	Delicate white flowers
E. x youngianum 'Merlin'	Pink white		x	deciduous	Slow, unique coloured flowers
E. x youngianum 'Niveum'	white		x	deciduous	Easy and beautiful
E. x youngianum 'Typicum'	transparent white		x	deciduous	Very delicate almost transparent flowers
E. x 'Sasaki'	white	x	x slow	evergreen	Good winter foliage
E. x setosum	white	x	x slow	evergreen	Good winter foliage

Epimediums are plants suited for shady spots in the garden. Because of the many new and recent introductions among the Epimediums we roughly categorised our Epimediums below.

Europe

In the first place Epimediums gained fame as useful and elegant groundcovers for shade. Some are even know to thrive in drier shade. Those handling drier shade are the east European species and their hybrids.

China

Many recently introduced Epimediums find their origin in the humid Chinese forests and their shaded green hills, most of the Chinese species demand a constant moisture in a weld rained soil.

It is often in airy mixtures of rocks and organic substances such as leaf mould, peat, etc. that plants of this group develop into spectaculairy beautiful plants.
Most of the Chinese species keep developing new young foliage trough summer into late autumn, this new young foliage can be coloured with atractice colours varying from bronze and salmon-pink to cherry-red and bordeaux.
In some cases the mature evergreen foliage turns darker during the cold periods, this with tones of purple and red.
Their enchanting delicate flowerbeauty apeals to many, the flowers on their selves are often small but as a whole very fine with colours from purple to pink and yellow these small flowers are caried with tens on lots of ellegant flowerstems.

Epimedium stellulatum 'Wudang Star'

Japan

The Japanese species are a bit different then the Chinese in exeption of one species (E.sempervirens’) they all are decideous, this group includes E.grandiflorum E.diphyllum and their hybrid group named E. x youngianum. All of the Japanese Epimediums prefer rich, weldrained and a slightly acidic organic soil.

Epimedium grandiflorum 'White Queen'

Culture

The last few years Epimediums have gained more fame by shade- and woodlandgadeners . A new generation very attractive selections and hybrids is starting to cause a fresh new wind and is very promising.

Our choice out of the European Epimediums and their hybrids:

In the group of Epimediums with easy ground covering characteristics the robust E. x versicolor ‘Sulphureum’ with its reddish young foliage (later turning green) and the shorter variant E. x versicolor ‘Neosulphureum’ with its bronze-brownish young foliage are both suited for the humid but also for the more dry shade E. x rubrum which has spectacular coloured young foliage also handles semi dry shade with no problem.. It is best to watch the plants during the first year and in the drier periods give water to encourage the rootgrowth.

Epimedium x versicolor 'Sulphureum'

Our choice out of the Chinese Epimediums and their hybrids:

Among the Chinese Epimediums there are differences(difficulty –levels) concerning certained demands and vigour. among the easier we chose E.wushanense ‘Caramel’ with spectacular long narrow pointy leaflets, E. davidii with masses of yellow flowers, E.platypetalum, with open cupshaped yellow flowers, blooming over a very long period E.franchetii (Og.) with a very strong leaves and beautiful colouration of the young foliage E. x omeiense ‘Myriad Years’ a rare form with amazing hybrid vigour and large delicate longspurred flowers . Last but not least there is E. rhizomatosum a quicker growing Epimedium with large, yellow spiders. In normal conditions this Epimedium often flowers into September…

Epimedium frachetii

Our choice out of the Japanese Epimediums and their hybrids:

Among the deciduous Epimediums E. grandiflorum ‘White Queen’ is a very rich flowered selection which often reblooms in late summer. E.grandiflorum ‘Nanum’ a dwarf selection is problemfree and has a dark band marking the margins of the young foliage. E. x youngianum ‘Niveum’ can be found since 1830 in the European gardens and still is a amazing goodflowering selection .

Epimedium grandiflorum 'Violet Nanum'

Epimedium acuminatum L575

Epimedium history

In 1830 E. grandiflorum and E. x youngianum are introduced by von Siebold in the Botanical Garden of Ghent.

Between 1844 and 1854 E. x rubrum the first named hybrid between E.alpinum and E.grandiflorum arises followed quickly by E. x versicolor and E. x versicolor ‘sulphureum’ both being hybrids between E.grandiflorum and E. pinnatum. These hybrids stil are today among the best for use as evergreen groundcover.

1909 E. x warleyense is named (Warley, U.K.) a Hybrid between E.alpinum en E. pinnatum subsp. colchicum.

Small amounts of different Chinese species had been planted and described in in late 1800 among them E. saggitatum and E. acuminatum.

Roy Lancaster introduces his wild collections of E.acuminatum in the early 80’s.Later other species and hybrids followed thanks to Mikinori Ogisu, Martyn Rix, James Compton,… Most species scientifially described by professor William T. Stearn and Plantsman Mikinori Ogisu.

1985 Martyn Rix collects seeds from Epimedium davidii in the Sichuan province, China. Back in England he shares these with Elisabeth Strangman who raises them and is the first to offer them to horticulture.

Nursery people known for introducing new Epimediums are Robin White from Blackthorn Nursery eand Elisabeth Strangman from the Washfield Nursery.
End 90’s American Plantsman Darrell Probst started making botanical excursions to China where he succeeded in collecting many undescribed species new to science (E.epsteinii, E.dewuense,..), he also gained allot respect and honour by recollecting and locating several species of which only scientific descriptions or herbarium specimens were left.
Thanks to the recent (2002) published monograph on Epimediums the genus has become much more accessible for everyone interested . Professor William T. Stearn succeeded to complete the book early 2001 just before he died in may 2001.

On our nursery we have been collecting epimediums since the early 80’s.we have found it very fascinating to follow the new introductions in last 20 years,.It has led to a extensive collection. Now the interest of the European gardeners is starting to warm up it’s pleasent to be able to offer these magnificent plants.
The private collection is viewable during our opening hours . In late April we organise a Epimedium and shade plant weekend, there will be a wide range of different Epimediums and other shade loving plants for sale. For 2008 it will be on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13nd of April. The nursery will be open from 10 am to 5 pm. There will be a guided tour trough the collection at 2:30 pm.