Hepatica americana and a checklist
As soon as the rains allow, small bags will be placed to catch the Hepatica seeds; for both H. americana and H. acutiloba. I mentioned before that catching the seeds is not an easy task. This year the flowering show was partially missed and we cannot be sure about the seeds until later. I will show a few H. americana plants that I have my eyes on:
Hepatica americana #1
I gave it this ‘name’ a few years ago and in a way it remains my favorite. It is a large specimen, reliable flowering (seeds germinating in the first spring) with violet/blue flowers with a narrow white edging.
H. americana ‘Spring Dawn’
An exciting find with larger than usual flowers with multipetal tendency and also gorgeous foliage. It is a mesmerizing form of H. americana but I don’t know yet if it would come true from seeds.
Few forms with pure, white flowers are also marked for collecting.
A bicolor specimen shown below it would be a first time offering. As well, seeds from a small isolated group of plants with white flowers brushed with pink, they should come true from seeds – a seedling in the featured picture.
Hepatica americana bicolor
Maybe also few seeds from a white form and white/lavender forms with multipetal tendency.
Available seeds will be posted in the shop (in 2-3 few weeks) and announcement will be made here and on FB page (those interested please subscribe to one of them).
Last year extremely cold and rainy spring made it for a disastrous seeds setting so I really hope this season will be better. Fingers crossed!
The checklist posted for H. acutiloba also applies for growing Hepatica americana from seeds.
Looking forward to ordering some of both species. I used to grow them in my parents’ garden (along with Jack-in-the-pulpit, three types of trilliums, trout lilies and loads of other native Eastern species) when we lived in Pierrefonds in the West Island. Hepaticas were the first ones I cultivated, not even knowing what they were back then, until I bought my first Roger Tory Peterson book.
A lovely woodland plants combination. It is surprising that many people don’t know the Hepaticas, probably because they are the first to flower and most are starting to hike later in the woods.