Hepatica

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1) Anemone, Aquilegia, Delphinium, and other Ranunculaceae

Liverleafs are among the first flowers of spring here, and are justifiably popular. As you can see, the foliage can take quite a beating here in more open areas (even despite having snow cover last winter ???).
Here are a few, to get things started:
1 - 4) Hepatica transylvanica
5, 6) Hepatica nobilis (I find it very hard to capture the rich blue-purple of the flowers in photos - these are about as close as I've come.)
7, 8 ) Hepatica nobilis 'Rubra Plena'

Comments

Mark McDonough's picture

Mark McDonough

Sat, 05/07/2011 - 8:31pm

Wow2!  The second photo is great, revealing such variation in flower color. Very nice.

cohan's picture

cohan (not verified)

Sun, 05/08/2011 - 4:09pm
Skulski wrote:

Here are some magnificent examples from the beautiful Rundle Wood gardens (a private garden which is also the display garden for an excellent small alpine and perennial nursery) from the first CRAGS open garden, last weekend:

I was surprised to find how late spring is here, even in the "tropical south" parts of the city!  (I live in the high, northwest hinterlands.  ;D)

Great show! I haven`t looked to see if they have their 2011 catalogue out...

Lori S.'s picture

Lori S. (not verified)

Sun, 05/08/2011 - 6:57pm

Yes, it is out, Cohan.

cohan's picture

cohan (not verified)

Sun, 05/08/2011 - 10:02pm

Thanks, I'll browse when I feel like teasing myself...lol

Michael J Campbell's picture

Michael J Campbell (not verified)

Tue, 02/07/2012 - 10:29am

Hepatica japonica pink
Hepatica japonica white
Hepatica nobilis pink
Hepatica japonica Anjyu
Hepatica nobilis rubra plena
Hepatica japonica kuukai
Hepatica nobilis dark blue
Hepatica japonica blue
Hepatica japonica sakuragari,something is nibbling the flowers on these two.
Hepatica japonica deep pink

Trond Hoy's picture

Trond Hoy

Tue, 02/07/2012 - 12:09pm

Michel, you know how to make me jealous  ;) I can hardly wait till my few plants come up in a month or so - however they are all in the garden!

Do you know what kind of creature that nibbles your plant?
I have lost some plants in the garden, not to slugs - or maybe slugs too - but to a kind of insect, small beetles or something which destroy the leaves :(

Michael J Campbell's picture

Michael J Campbell (not verified)

Tue, 02/07/2012 - 12:45pm
Quote:

Do you know what kind of creature that nibbles your plant?

I suspect Earwigs (Forficula auricularia.) they prefer aphids but as I don't appear to have any this year yet (touch wood) I think they are nibbling the flowers. I go out at night with a torch looking for the culprit but can't find anything. I don't think I have any vine weevils either as I have treated all the vulnerable plants.
Maggi Young thinks it might be sparrows.

cohan's picture

cohan (not verified)

Tue, 02/07/2012 - 1:25pm

All beautiful, Michael! But I especially love the singles- all of them :)

Martin Tversted's picture

Martin Tversted (not verified)

Fri, 02/10/2012 - 6:56am

Sin gle flowered, and preferable with a clean color all over the flowers. thats my favorites. I have them growing semiwild in the garden. Will wisit one of the danish wild locations this spring. Shall take photos.

Martin

cohan's picture

cohan (not verified)

Fri, 02/10/2012 - 11:19am

Looking forward to seeing those, Martin- love those wild colonies :)

Michael J Campbell's picture

Michael J Campbell (not verified)

Fri, 02/10/2012 - 11:54am
Quote:

Do you know what kind of creature that nibbles your plant?

I found the little blighters this evening munching on the flowers (small black slugs) they have gone for their holidays. ;)

Margaret Young's picture

Margaret Young

Fri, 02/10/2012 - 12:39pm

So , it was slugs?  Well caught, Michael.

Perhaps it is only my sparrows which are guilty of flower nibbling. The little hooligans:P

Trond Hoy's picture

Trond Hoy

Fri, 02/10/2012 - 2:49pm
Michael wrote:

Quote:

Do you know what kind of creature that nibbles your plant?

I found the little blighters this evening munching on the flowers (small black slugs) they have gone for their holidays. ;)

Slugs! Is that good news or bad news though? Are the slugs newhatched or older? I have found some newhatched slugs in my seedpots >:( I don't like it at all!

cohan's picture

cohan (not verified)

Fri, 02/10/2012 - 10:49pm
Michael wrote:

Quote:

Do you know what kind of creature that nibbles your plant?

I found the little blighters this evening munching on the flowers (small black slugs) they have gone for their holidays. ;)

Hope you got that problem nipped in the bud before they can nip too many of yours!

Michael J Campbell's picture

Michael J Campbell (not verified)

Sun, 02/19/2012 - 12:16pm

A few more Hepatica.
Hepatica Purple nidan saki.
Hepatica Purpre nidan saki
Hepatica japonica Akane.
Hepatica japonica Asahizuru
Hepatica japonica Haruno awayuki.
Hepatica nobilis
Hepatica japonica
Hepatica nobilis
Hepatica nobilis
Hepatica nobilis rubra plena

Lori S.'s picture

Lori S. (not verified)

Sun, 02/19/2012 - 12:19pm

Beautiful! It's very heartening to see those vivid colours, Michael! 
Can any colder zone gardeners who have experimented with H. japonica comment on their experiences? 

Michael J Campbell's picture

Michael J Campbell (not verified)

Sun, 02/19/2012 - 12:21pm

Last few.

Hepatica americana.
Hepatica americana.
Hepatica transylvanica Blue Jewell.
Hepatica Japonica Murasaki.
Hepatica nobilis

cohan's picture

cohan (not verified)

Sun, 02/19/2012 - 12:39pm

More beauties!

Richard T. Rodich's picture

Richard T. Rodich

Sun, 02/19/2012 - 7:35pm

The colors are quite clear.  Excellent!

Michael (or anyone), do you find that the pH of the soil is important in bringing out the "correct" hues?

I have some H. americana that grow in sandy soil, pH about 6.5.  They seemed to be the same color blue-purple as their parents in the acid soil (pH 5.5-6.0) in Northern Minnesota.  Now I have moved some of them to a clay based pH 7 soil with more sun, and they are pretty much white.

Michael J Campbell's picture

Michael J Campbell (not verified)

Mon, 02/20/2012 - 1:47am

I grow mine in a loamy soil and never bother much about the PH, just throw a handful of lime into the compost when mixing. I would think that it is the sun bleaching the flowers.  Mine are shaded from March until November and full winter sun (and we don't get much of that) the rest of the year.

cheers.

Michael J Campbell's picture

Michael J Campbell (not verified)

Fri, 02/01/2013 - 10:53am

Hepatica japonica To-sen
Hepatica japonica Akafuku
Hepatica japonica white with a hint of pink.
Hepatica nobilis snow  storm

cohan's picture

cohan (not verified)

Fri, 02/01/2013 - 11:05am

A gorgeous set! Love those gentle pinks..

Trond Hoy's picture

Trond Hoy

Sat, 02/02/2013 - 12:39am

Very nice Michael! Now I'm very much looking forward to spring!

Richard T. Rodich's picture

Richard T. Rodich

Sat, 02/02/2013 - 5:21pm

In my youth, I toyed with the possibility of breeding hepatica with our native specimens.
  After all, no one else was doing it, I naively thought.  (I was only 18 years old then.)  :rolleyes:

Very glad I didn't go down that road...

You have so many beauties, Michael!

Trond Hoy's picture

Trond Hoy

Sun, 02/03/2013 - 12:15am
RickR wrote:

In my youth, I toyed with the possibility of breeding hepatica with our native specimens.
  After all, no one else was doing it, I naively thought.  (I was only 18 years old then.)  :rolleyes:

Very glad I didn't go down that road...

Rick, who knows, you could have made a fortune by now :o Think of the fabulous Japanese cultivars ;D

kalle-k.dk's picture

kalle-k.dk (not verified)

Sun, 03/24/2013 - 10:08pm

Hepatica acuta semi double Deep Blue

Rimmer's picture

Rimmer (not verified)

Mon, 03/25/2013 - 2:14pm

Hepatica actiloba with walking fern on moss covered dolomite in the wild in southern Ohio this weekend

Richard T. Rodich's picture

Richard T. Rodich

Mon, 03/25/2013 - 4:32pm

Those pics could have been taken in southern Minnesota, too, complete with the moss and the Asplenium rhizophyllum.
Although I have to say, the hepatica is exceptionally richly colored.

The walking fern, especially, seems to love moss covered limestone here.

Trond Hoy's picture

Trond Hoy

Wed, 03/27/2013 - 11:23pm

Hepatica can get the red coloured leaves if growing in sun and it still is cold. I have seen it here too but not often that much. The walking fern however, I've never seen - it doesn't exist here.

But I have never seen a hepatica as blue as kalle-k's!

cohan's picture

cohan (not verified)

Tue, 04/09/2013 - 11:03am

Cool habitat shots!

Lori S.'s picture

Lori S. (not verified)

Sat, 04/27/2013 - 9:01pm

Hepatica nobilis and H. transylvanica (x2), starting to bloom:
   

cohan's picture

cohan (not verified)

Wed, 05/08/2013 - 4:14pm

Nice! I can't wait till I get flowering plants, I do have a few seedlings, but don't think anything is mature yet..

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