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Published February 2020

Spring foliage colors and color patterns are among my favorite Epimedium traits. Many, but not all Epimedium species and varieties, exhibit these characteristics. The colors reveal themselves only on the soft new growth, enhanced by cool spring temperatures. These colors are thought to be an evolutionary adaptation to protect the tender new leaflets from strong sunlight. Some evidence also indicates that they discourage chewing insects. Whatever the reason, this colorful pop of new foliage is a beautiful addition to the spring shade garden.

Spring foliage color can range from near black to deep purple, mahogany, tan, cranberry, rose red, hot pink, brilliant orange and limey green. Each variety and clone has its own unique color and pattern in spring. As the weather warms and the leaves mature, most colors turn to green, except for a few variegated varieties. I find that the “ephemeral-ness” of this quality makes it all the more delightful.

The colors and color patterns of spring foliage in Epimediums are not static, but change from day to day. Some Epimediums even produce a second flush of growth with its attendant spring color. This happens just as the blossoms fade and the first foliage flush greens up. The secondary growth flush bears the same color as that of the earlier spring flush, but the color is more diffuse. A long, cool spring delays the maturation of the leaves, allowing the plants to hold their spring foliage color even longer. These colorful displays sometimes last into the early weeks of June here in Massachusetts.

How Light Affects Color:

 

Epimedium koreanum ‘Harold Epstein’ leaves from the same plant growing under different levels of direct sun. Left (shade- no direct sunlight) to right (with 2-3 hours of direct sunlight per day).Although Epimediums are considered shade plants, the quality of that shade makes a difference. The amount of sunlight the plants receive affects not only their rate of growth, but also their floriferousness, and the intensity of their spring foliage color. Below are leaves from a grouping of Epimedium koreanum ‘Harold Epstein’ planted under a large Dawn Redwood tree. The leaves to the left grow in the deepest shade. Each leaflet grows larger and remains mostly green with only a thin red border. Those growing in 2-3 hours of sun on the right, are smaller and have more intense spring color. Too much sun, especially under dry conditions, can cause foliar burn. This damage is unsightly, but will not kill the plant. If this happens, transplant the affected plant to an area where it will receive more shade and moisture.

The key in siting your Epimediums for their best possible performance, is to give them as much light as they can withstand in your garden, without causing foliar damage. High shade, with perhaps a couple of hours of early morning or late afternoon sun is ideal in most regions.

Colors and Patterns:

 

Below I’ve highlighted a few lesser known Epimedium varieties that exhibit good spring foliage color. Some of these varieties appear in the Collections offered on this website. These examples show some of the range of spring foliage color and color patterns expressed in the genus.

 

Epimedium ‘Hot Lips’ was introduced by Diana Reeck of the former Collector’s Nursery. The name refers to the color of the flowers, but the color of the foliage is equally as beautiful. From deep red-pink to hot pink, it provides an attractive tinge to the outermost, large, semi-evergreen leaves of this substantial Epimedium (which grows up to 20″ tall in my Massachusetts garden in a bit of sun)

 

 

 

Another eye-catching Diana Reeck introduction, Epimedium x youngianum ‘Starlet’ explodes in a riot of lavender and white bloom.  It is an early and long-blooming, medium-sized Epimedium, reaching 12″ high after its second growth flush. The distinct, dark border exhibited on the leaflets is a familiar pattern on many hybrids that have Epimedium grandiflorum var. higoense in their makeup. This border color varies from dark cranberry red as in Epimedium grandiflorum ‘Spring Wedding’ or ‘Swallowtail’, to the deep shade of purple that you see here.

 

 

 

Several evergreen Epimedium species native to China exhibit this dark mottling or “flecking” on the tender new spring growth.  Epimedium myrianthum ‘Mottled Madness’ is a particularly good example. The flowers are tiny– barely visible upon close observation, but the spring foliage is remarkable. Epimedium fargesii is another example, where the dark spring mottling sometimes returns as a ghostly shadow again in the cool of the fall.

 

 

 

On most Epimediums, the foliage color is darkest when the plant first emerges from the ground; often before the blossoms have opened. As the days go by, the leaves expand, the flowers open, more chlorophyll is produced and the foliage colors changes to green. Observe the same plant every day during this progression, and you will find that each day the scene will change.

 

Some Epimediums such as Epimedium x versicolor ‘Cupreum’ shown here, exhibit red spring foliage color on all but the green leaf veins, creating an eyecatching pattern. Epimedium x rubrum and two other Epimedium x versicolor hybrids ‘Sulphureum’ and ‘Versicolor’  also express this color pattern in spring.

 

 

A few hybrids show a combination of patterns, like  Epimedium ‘Serendipity’ which pairs its dark edging with irregular dark splotches on the new spring green foliage.

My advice when choosing Epimediums is to look beyond the flowers– to the leaves, for a beautiful and changing color progression that welcomes back the spring.

 

Karen Perkins

Garden Vision Epimediums

 

 

 

 

Published September 2016

The stress test. That is what Darrell called it whenever he left his plant purchases in pots for years until he found the perfect spot for them in the garden. If a plant survived, then it won his interest. Epimediums were one of the genera that passed this test. This summer has certainly been a stress test for gardens across the U.S. Excessive rain or blistering heat and lengthy droughts have ravaged areas (like here in Massachusetts) that are not accustomed to such extremes.

I’ve been preaching fall planting for years, but it seems to fall on deaf ears for most gardeners. With all of the optimal planting conditions that exist in the fall, I think much of the resistance towards it has to do with the fact that we are just plain tuckered out after a full gardening season. The thrill of spring is gone. But so as not to miss an excellent opportunity to improve your gardens and avoid the stress test, I want to strongly encourage you to consider it. Fellow shade nurseryman, Rick Sawyer of Fernwood Nursery and Gardens in Maine recently posted an excellent article on the many, many reasons you should be planting in the fall. Give it a read, it may change your perspective.

This exceptionally hot, dry summer has given me yet another opportunity to see the effects of not only the drought, but the high temps on the Epimediums that I grow in pots. My smaller pots not only save my customers lots of money on transport, but they keep me out of the chiropractor’s office. However, one drawback to them is that even though I’ve kept up with the watering, they heat up more than larger pots, causing the foliage to go dormant prematurely on some varieties, although their underground stems roots are still going strong. However, this apparent misfortune highlights the best stress-resistent varieties.

This year’s spring-blooming Camel Collection features six such stress-resistent selections with great summer foliage at a discount. In addition to the plants featured in the collection, these are a few other varieties you may want to consider, whose foliage is still spectacular and crisp in late summer:

Epimedium x versicolor ‘Cupreum’ provides a riot of color in all shades of red and salmon in earliest spring. It ends the season with semi-evergreen, almost black-purple, angular foliage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Published June 2016

Just as the last few stray blossoms of the latest/longest blooming epimediums are fading away as we enter into June here in Massachusetts, I am reminded by a flat of plants I am preparing to pack and ship, of a second call for attention many epimediums are making in the garden– right now.

 

Many epimediums produce a first flush of colorful foliage and blossoms immediately upon emergence in spring. Then they take a break– harden off and green up their first leaves– and put their energies into producing a top knot, or second layer of new spring foliage, with the same beautiful colors that they possessed earlier in spring. From a distance it gives the impression that they are in bloom for a second time. During a long cool spring, we can get up to 6 weeks of colorful flowers and new spring growth in the garden before the plants green up for the summer.

 

 

 

Here are a few of the showiest selections,  photographed on a walk through the garden and nursery the evening of June 10, 2015.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is still plenty of time to order a few plants. I will be shipping through the month of June, and then again in September through mid-October.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Published April 2016

Epimediums can be drastically affected by fickle spring temperatures because they are such early bloomers, emerging as soon as the frost is out of the ground. Unseasonably early spring warmth pushes the new growth into overdrive, and then sudden, hard frosts can fry it all up into a pile of withered stems. Most years it is not much of a problem, but then there are years like the present.

Lately we have been riding a roller coaster of temperature changes in the Northeast, with warmth coming many, many weeks earlier than normal, pushing these early bloomers into premature growth. Now, in early April, we’ve had 4 days of lows in the mid-teens. Luckily we’ve also had recent snowfall, which provided nearly 6-8″ of protection, hallelujah! I think I was the only person I’ve encountered who was grateful rather than annoyed about it.

I have tried to lessen any damage to the plants I have in pots by ignoring the temptation to uncover my cold frames early (much to the chagrin of my southern customers). Normally I open them up in mid-April since our frost free date doesn’t arrive til the end of May. In observing my Epimediums yesterday after the snow had melted under rising temperatures and warm rain, I found that some had weathered the trauma better than others, but most looked unscathed. Here’s my secret:

 I keep my plants as dormant as I can,  for as long as I can,  until the weather settles in spring.

 

When I cut back the old foliage in either fall or early spring, I mulch the roots with 2″ of chopped leaves (or any other lightweight mulch appropriate for perennials), and sprinkle a lighter covering of this ‘leaf confetti’ over the crowns of each plant. This keeps the soil cool/frozen until the weather moderates. Even covering them in early winter with the branches of your discarded holiday tree will give added protection.

Another trick to slow their eager, early emergence is to plant them where the spring sun does not reach, such as on the north side of the woods, a shrub border, or your house. I have my entire stock of overwintering pots in cold frames located on the north side of a woodland, whose shade serves to keep the plants dormant for longer than they would remain that way in a more open location.

A third method is to plant under the cover of a limbed-up evergreen tree or shrub that will give them a bit of overhead cover that moderates the temperature. My favorite way though, is my excuse for being a lazy gardener (in all fairness, I am not lazy, I just have LOTS of garden/nursery to cut back each year before the new shoots emerge).

 

 

Leave last year’s foliage along with the fallen leaf debris to moderate the effect that quickly changing spring temperatures have on the new buds. Leave it in place until the weather settles or you have a chance to clean it up and re-mulch the area in readiness for bloom. If you use this technique, keep a sharp eye on the weather — thank goodness for the advent of the 10 day forecast–how could I live without it?! Do not postpone cleanup for too long however, or you will have the impossibly tedious task of removing the tangle of old stems and dried foliage from the tender, brittle new shoots. If that happens, it may be best to let things be and have the two fight it out. You will end up with taller plants in any case. As you can probably guess, I have long since given up what the neighbors think about my garden in earliest spring.

If all else fails and you have the threat of a late, hard frost looming, an old cardboard box and a rock to weight it down works in a pinch– at least for your most prized specimens.

 

 

Even if your Epimediums do get freezer burn, all is not lost. The underground woody rhizomes of most will activate dormant buds that will continue on. They will emerge a little later and with a lesser floral show, but thankfully, after the weather has settled.

If there is one thing that I have learned in life, it is that Mother Nature is a power greater than myself, and it is best not to stress, but to roll with the punches and enjoy the ride. In other words, work smarter, not harder. If you can do that, it makes life much, much better.

With best wishes that your Epimediums have made it through spring so far unscathed. I am keeping my fingers crossed for more moderate spring temperatures from now on.

Karen Perkins

Published April 2015

“Ground-cover for dry shade“ is the most common refrain when I ask people if they are familiar with Epimediums.  (No, is another common answer!)  Although some species do spread and make great drought-tolerant ground covers, the vast majority of species are clump forming and all of them prefer adequate moisture and well-drained, humus-rich soils. Those that most often make the ground-cover cut– E. ×rubrum, E. ×versicolor ‘Sulphureum’ and E. ×perralchicum ‘Frohnleiten’– do so for several reasons. They are drought-tolerant after they become established, short in stature, with good quality foliage. They have also been on the market for many years. Hopefully this list of some uncommon ground-cover types will encourage you to expand your horizons and try some of the lesser known, but still useful, beautiful and spreading forms of Epimedium.

All Epimediums grow by woody rhizomes that live just below the soil surface. The woodiness of these rhizomes or “underground stems” accounts for their relatively slow growing nature (as compared to herbaceous perennials). It also makes them very tough (as does the fact that the stem is protected underground). Some species–grandiflorum, diphyllum and fargesii for example- have very short, incremental rhizome growth each year, so that over time, the stems of the plant form a woody underground “knot”. These types make an ever-enlarging clump over time, but essentially occupy the same real estate for many years. Generally the kinds whose annual rhizome growth can be measured in inches, rather than fractions of an inch, are considered to be spreading types or “ground-covers”.  Here I focus on some of the less commonly used spreading types.

E. macrosepalum ‘Sweet Rachel’ is a charming, very low-growing, spreader. Recently introduced to cultivation in the U.S., this selection is the result of a National Arboretum plant exploration of the southeast coastal region of Russia. I value this cultivar mostly for its evergreen foliage that displays some of the best fall color in all of Epimedium-land. Heart shaped, leathery leaves cover the ground at only about 3-5″ high. Limey green in spring, they turn a beautiful burgundy-red in fall when grown in bright shade or a bit of sun. Although a shy bloomer, this species has beautiful, large (for an Epimedium) flowers that I liken to eggs on an Easter egg hunt– an extra special treat to discover. Their large, rounded lavender-pink sepals arch back while the spur tips and the rim of the flower cup stretch forward and brighten to white. Their very thin rhizomes grow 4-8+” annually here in Massachusetts.

E. ×versicolor ‘Neosulphureum’ is often overlooked in the shadow of it’s well known sister plant ‘Sulphureum’. It does not spread as quickly, (the rhizomes grow only 2-4″ a year), but nevertheless, it forms a nice tight ground cover that just travels at a slower pace. A hearty bloomer, it is surprisingly showy in the shade, with its soft yellow flowers shining brightly against the delicately bronzed semi-evergreen spring leaflets. It makes a very classy addition to the woodland garden.

Many customers ask me for a white flowering spreader, but very few Epimediums fit that bill. Epimedium sempervirens ‘Okuda’s White’ is one of them. George Schenk introduced this unusual and rare cultivar from Japan in the 1970’s. Although most  sempervirens cultivars are clump forming, this gem spreads 4-6″ a year with large, pristine white flowers against light green leaves, a very fresh-looking combination. This very low growing, semi-evergreen groundcover only reaches 5-8″ in height.

If you want a wonderfully warm pop of bright spring color, then you can’t do better than E. ×versicolor ‘Cupreum’. It is one of my very favorites. Cheerful pinkish-salmon flowers with a soft yellow cup hover above red-flushed leaflets, spider-veined in lime-green in springtime. In fall, the angular leaflets turn a distinctive and attractive blackish maroon. Plant it against a solid colored background, such as the white of a birch trunk, or the grey of a granite boulder, to best show the cacophony of spring color of this handsome variety. Semi-spreading at 4-5″ per year, with foliage 9-12″ tall. In good soil and bright shade, you can expect your clump to increase to a diameter of 2′ in 4-5 years.

From Iran comes the drought-tolerant, evergreen E. pinnatum ssp. pinnatum. Its foliage has an attractive reddish-blush in both spring and fall. This subspecies has far more textural foliage than E. pinnatum ssp. colchicum, with 9 leaflets per leaf instead of 3-5. Its bright lemon-yellow flowers erupt from the blush of the newly emerging foliage in spring to brighten any space. It is a good spreader with 8″ long rhizomes.

One of my favorite deciduous spreaders is E. grandiflorum f. flavescens ‘Chocolate Lace’. The new foliage looks like molten dark chocolate- with just a hint of red– against the tracings of its green veins. It makes an excellent backdrop for late blooming Narcissus such as ‘Thalia’. It is also spectacular when paired with blue-foliaged Hosta sp. in the garden, as are many Epimediums with dark spring foliage. 10″ tall in bloom, I consider it a “semi” spreader with rhizomes extending only 2-4” annually.

I hope this inspires you to try something new this season. All of the above described plants are uncommon in the trade.

As always I look forward to serving you– our loyal and enthusiastic customers. Thank you for your patronage and for helping to preserve, appreciate and perpetuate Barrenworts, Bishop’s Caps and Fairywings.

Karen Perkins

Owner- Garden Vision Epimediums

Beautiful late season foliage of Epimedium xperralchicum ‘Wisley’

Published March 2014

Last summer, as I was weeding late one quiet afternoon in the nursery, I was struck by the understated beauty of the foliage of many of the Epimediums surrounding me. I decided to focus this article on green summer foliage, or the “sensible shoes” of the Epimedium world. Epimediums,  by their very nature, are not “in your face” kinds of plants, especially during the summer, when they are known more for their subtle, elegant foliage beauty. I have chosen the following selections as exceptional, particularly durable types that add structure and a long season of handsome foliage interest to the garden. Many of the newer Chinese species have exceptional, large, spiny leaflets of good substance, worthy of specimen plant status in the garden. But here, I am focusing on the leafier, faster-growing [Read more…] about “It’s Not Easy Being Green”