Epimedium

Epimediums
You can find all our available Epimediums on this page, or you can use the categories at the beginning to refine you choice to botanically similar species or hybrids of that species. Each Taxon category should contain all subcategories and hybrids of that taxon.
Epimediums are a rare thing; they are both exquisitely beautiful and highly tolerant in regard to growing conditions. In British gardens they grow well in all but the wettest and most alkaline soils, with many being very tolerant of dry conditions where they can provide superb ground cover; the Epimedium x perralchicum varieties excel particularly as do forms of Epimedium x versicolor. The one constant is that they all require a degree of shade. Whilst many do cope well with dry shade, more moisture and humus in the soil is beneficial.

In order to best view the flowers, and in many cases to get the best from the beautifully marked new leaves it can be beneficial to cut away all of the old leaves in early Spring just as the flower spikes break the surface. In this way you get the best from the evergreen foliage and the best from the flowers.

The common name ‘barrenwort’ comes from a belief that the root could prevent women becoming pregnant. This may be of some comfort when you consider  other common names, such as horny goat weed, which stems from the legend of a Chinese goat herder noticing increased sexual activity in his animals after eating Epimedium.  The dried leaves of Epimedium grandiflorum are used as a tonic in China called Fang-chang tsao (translated as ‘give up stick’) on account of its tonic effect on the elderly.

  • Potsize - 1L

    Possibly E.dolichostemon x E.leptorrhizum. A lovely introduction from Elizabeth Strangman with flowers in a gentle soft pink, very much like its parent E.leptorrhizum. However, each flower is neater and smaller and held in an elegant arching spray. The leaves can colour a rich ruby red in winter.

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  • Potsize - 1L

    Very well named as the flowers are of just that mix of pale yellow with a tinge of green that characterises that most noxious of elements. However, there the similarity ends as the rest of this plant is lovely. The flowers come in a dense, arching spike with each berberis like flower hanging most gracefully. Towards the end of flowering the outer petals will sometimes stain pink. The effect is quite showy and refined. E.flavum x E.ogisui

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  • Potsize - 1L

    Jean O'Neill has flowers in one of those colours that is quite unique. The flowers are generous in proportions and production, with each being topped by off white sepals, under which curve petals which shade from dunked rich tea biscuit brown to flesh coloured at their curved tips. Young leaves are suffused with a rich tan and they colour a lovely pinky-red in Autumn, still with the darker red speckles. Raised at Spinners by Peter Chapell from Epimedium davidii seed. Possibly a cross with Epimedium acuminatum

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  • Potsize - 1L

    (E. latisepalum x E. pinnatum subs. Colchicum ) One of the first batch of Epimediums into flower. This lovely hybrid resembles Epimedium v. 'Sulphuruem', or more precisely 'Neosulphureum', but on steroids. The flower stems are tall standing well above the foliage to 60cm. They have widely spaced individual flowers that have palest creamy yellow inner sepals and bright lemon horned petals. The new leaves compliment perfectly in a sienna washed pale green. The whole plant is evergreen, retaining a fresh mid green leaf all Winter.

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  • Potsize - 1L

    A lot like E.leptorrhizum's larger cousin with flowers in a very similar colour. Each flower is 4cm across with soft pink inner sepals above strongly curved white petals which can develop a purple stain at the mouth. They are a little larger than those of E.leptorrhizum, to my eyes a slightly bluer pink and have a more pronounced colour difference between the petals and inner sepals. They are one of the earliest Epimediums into flower. Leaves emerge with a subtle rusty blotching. Originally collected under the name E.leptorrhizum, but differing in the much shorter runners. Series C - Dolichocerae

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  • Potsize - 1L

    Startling fat goblet shaped flowers of brightest yellow with yellow horns. The sepals are reduced to a little fleck of rusty red which is picked up by the dark red of the new leaves. The flowers are 1 1/4 inches but the 'tube' is flared to make the goblet shaped centre which lends the flower more weight. Originally collected by the French missionary, Pere Armand David. From mountain woods in the Sichuan province. Subgenus Epimedium, Section i, B Series - Davidianae

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  • Potsize - 1L

    In many ways similar to Epimedium wushanense, but a little smaller (despite being in a different series). The flowers have petals that curve downwards in a shade of pale translucent yellow, stronger towards the centre and on the very tip. They are carried in compound pyramidal inflorescences of up to 30 flowers. The leaves are fresh apple green, paler at first, eventually developing an overlay of red blotching. They are long and narrow with a quite spiky margin. Subgenus Epimedium, Section i, B Series - Davidianae

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  • Potsize - 1L

    This is another relatively recent introduction, having been collected in 1993 by the great Mikinori Ogisu and later being given his name. Mikinori Ogisu is credited with doing more to further the study of Epimediums in China than any other man. He is a great pioneering Plant Hunter and botanist who has introduced many new species and reintroduced many other only known from herbarium specimens. Epimedium ogisui is a beautiful pure white species, quite close to Epimedium latisepalum from which it differs in small leaf details. The flowers are an essay in purity, the inner petals are curved horns whose open throats overlap so that one opposite pair enclose the other, all surrounding the bright yellow anthers. The sepals are broader, with long points forming a cross in the same pure white as the petals. It flowers to approximately 30cm tall and grows in the wild at heights of about 1000m in the Sichuan province. Subgenus Epimedium, Section i. Diphyllon, Series B. Davidianae

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  • Potsize - 1L

    Weihenstephan is a typical, but particularly stout form of E.perraldianum. The flowers are rich yellow formed of tiny brown tipped petals and broad rounded sepals. They face outward from upright spikes whilst the new leaves emerge pale yellow-green coloured with a mosaic of red. Shiny foliage forms weed smothering spreading mats.E. perraldianum grows naturally in mountain Oak and Cedar forests in Northern Algeria and North Africa. It is very similar to E.pinnatum subsp. Colchicum, differing mainly in numbers of leaflets and its notably spiny leaf margins. Subgenus Rhizophyllum

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  • Potsize - 1L

    Exceptionally wide flattish flowers. The sepals are reduced to a small white cross, 1cm across, which backs the yellow petals which themselves are long and curved a bit like a bright sulphur yellow hunting horn. where the colour intensifies in the tip of the petal it is not unlike the eye of a snail. The foliage is claret at first, later becoming green and developing purplish and coppery mottles and splashes with a lovely undulating spiny edge. Flowers are held on tall stems above the foliage. Quickly spreading rhizome. Subgenus Epimedium, Section i. Diphyllon, Series C. Dolichocerae

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  • Potsize - 1L

    Epimedium x perralchicum 'Frohnleiten'. Beautiful tough evergreen ground cover, thirving even in the dry beneath trees. The leaves open an attractive pale ochre-green, beautifully netted with russet tones, colouring well in Autumn (more coloured than 'Wisley' on both occasions). Flowers are like strings of glowing small bright yellow daffodils held upright and above the foliage. A German cultivar selected by Heinz Klose, it has slightly more pointed leaves with a more toothed margin and large flowers held well up. 45cm. Easily grown in any good soil. ( E.perraldianum x E. pinnatum subsp. colchicum ).
    Discount of 25p per plant for quantities of 3 or over

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  • Potsize - 1L

    Epimedium x perralchicum 'Wisley'. (Epimedium perraldianium x Epimedium pinnatum subsp. colchicum). A selection from the original hybrid, having large flowers and particularly bright foliage. It forms beautiful spreading evergreen ground cover, unrivalled in its ability to march on in really quite dry conditions. The leaves open an attractive pale green; contrasting well with the last years foliage and having lovely red netting. The flowers are like upright spikes of glowing sunshine yellow daffodils. to see them at their best may need you to trim away last years foliage in early spring. 'Wisley' colours a little less in the leaf than its similar cousin 'Frohnleiten'. 45cm. Easily grown in any good soil. ( E.perraldianum x E. pinnatum subsp. colchicum ).
    Discount of 25p per plant for quantities of 3 or over

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  • Potsize - 1L

    Epimedium x warleyense ( Ellen Willmott ). E. alpinum x E. pinnatum subsp. colchicum. The upright stems of delicate coppery orange flowers set this hybrid apart from most epimediums. They are held well up above the foliage in a warm orange haze. The leaves are apple green in a mildly spreading clump that is a little less dense than most species. Height 20-40cm in flower. Originally sent from Warley Place, the Garden of Ellen Willmot, to Professor Stearn as E.perraldianum when he was writing his monograph. Subsequently identified and named by Professor Stearn. for any good soil in partial shade. spring.
    Discount of 25p per plant for quantities of 3 or over

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