Out in the woods – Hepatica americana

…for admiring the second North American native Hepatica: Hepatica americana.
Again, even if there is a whole page dedicated to the Queen of the woodlands on the website and other images with these beauties, this is a celebratory period worth noticing.

In various shades of blue, white, sometimes purple and rarely pink, these little woodland wildflowers of spring are amongst the loveliest plants to be encountered when walking into the forest.
The only problem in April is to find a nice, sunny day when the flowers open (they remain close on rainy and cold days).

The pollination is preponderantly done by wind, although sometime early insects are tricked by the beautiful flowers on sunny days and accidentally may carry pollen to other flowers nearby (the flowers do not have nectar).

I have included on purpose an image where Hepatica americana among Gaultheria procumbens, also Chimaphila umbellata nearby, to emphasize that this species require a slightly acidic substrate for growing well.

Take a few minutes to read about Hepatica in general, and think about growing a few of these spring beauties in your garden, before fresh seeds become available (somewhere in late May-June).

Please also have a look at the Checklist for growing Hepatica from seeds.

The flower color may change in intensity from buds to the open flowers, and usually is more vivid in colder springs. This is  a Hepatica color chart I’ve done one year to make sure we all speak the same ‘color language’ when talking about Hepatica americana and Hepatica acutiloba flower colors ;)