A UK National Collection

Epimediums

Epimedium grandiflorum 'Lilac Seedling'

'Lilac Seedling' was one we bought from The Garden House in Buckland Manachorum in Devon.. We have three E. grandiflorum varieties with ‘Lilac’ in their names, and they are all quite distinct from each other. This one has inner sepals of quite strong lilac pink. The petals are paler fading to white spurs. This colour scheme is rather similar to other varieties of E. grandiflorum that we have. It was much admired when we took it to the Norfolk Plant Heritage, plant fair, and has been a reasonable strong grower with us. 

General information on Epimedium grandiflorum

Distribution – Japan (Kyushu, Shikoku, Honshu and Hokiado). Northern Korea and southern Manchuria.

Description – A medium sized fairly deciduous species with widespread distribution through Japan etc. growing in deciduous woodland. It was introduced to Great Britain in the 1830s. With its wide geographical range through the various Japanese islands etc., a good deal of variation has occurred. Flower colour of the plants found in the wild varies widely: yellow, white, pink, lilac and reddish to purple. Add to this the large number of plants attributed to E grandiflorum that have arisen in cultivation and there may be hundreds of cultivars already named.