Hepatica acutiloba pastel mix explained

Last spring I stumbled upon a most beautiful Hepatica acutiloba population I called pastel mix based on the fact that, on a relatively small area, many plants with various flower colours were growing together: white, light pink, pink striped and lilac/light-purple.
Because the specimens are mixed it would be almost impossible to collect seeds individually, and even so, would they come completely true from seeds? Maybe not. Reason why it was offered as the ‘pastel mix’.

Hepatica acutiloba pastel mix population

In the rush and excitement of the spring I only wrote a short post about it. I also forgot to mention that most of them are fragrant, especially those with pink & white flowers. There are also a few specimens showing a tendency to form multipetal flowers.

Quite a few people took advantage and purchased seeds (moist packed and at a good price too!) but still, some remained and germinated in the Ziploc bags by late winter. Excellent germination!

Hepatica acutiloba (H. americana too) most often appear growing in deciduous woods as localized populations. Sometimes you can walk for hours in frustration not to find one plant.
These grouped populations are most likely the result of the way seeds are dispersed by ants (not at long distances), and/or the fact that others will germinate falling close to the mother plants.
Rarely all the plants are of the same colour; also the foliage and flowers can be variable (width/numbers of the tepals, lobes length and shape).

This is good. It means genetic diversity and the fact that in successive generations more interesting forms are bound to appear.
So, don’t be shy to grow from seeds plants of this population. You may never know what you will see flowering 3-4 years later! Anything similar with these would be desirable (click to open the gallery):

Proof of the genetic variability – walking a bit further in the same area the other day, a specimen with light purple, star-like flowers showed up!