DON’T you just love having surprises in your garden?
Epimedium, commonly called Barrenwort or Bishop’s Mitre, is a close relative of our spiky berberis and mahonia and can be a wonderful addition to the shady corners of your garden for almost 12 months of the year.
This delightful little woodland plant produces its delicate spikes of red, white or yellow flowers that seem to appear from nowhere for up to six weeks in mid-spring and then its summer array of beautiful foliage covers up the dying flowers until next spring.
With only one job per annum for this plant, cutting back last year’s dead foliage in early spring, it is one of the easiest plants to care for, requiring only a semi-shaded position in a fertile, humus rich soil to perform well.
Being an herbaceous perennial, It can be divided in autumn or after flowering in late spring to increase stock.
For many of the 30 plus species, the foliage provides a good cover of foliage in summer which often gives good autumn colour as an additional benefit, giving you almost twelve months worth of pleasure.
Amongst the favourite species are E. grandiflorum that has given rise to some superb hybrids over the years. Look out for example. Crimson Beauty and Lilafee. E. x versicolor has produced Cupreum with coppery leaves and Sulphureum with dark yellow flowers. For more ideas on hybrids and species to choose from visit the RHS website and use the on-line plant finder – there are currently more than 180 species and hybrids listed with suppliers’ details.
