Epimedium versicolor ‘Cupreum’ at Digging Dog Nursery

Epimedium

Barrenwort or Bishop’s Hat

Dense and leafy Epimedium is one of our most successful ground covers for the moist woodland setting. New heart-shaped leaves on wiry stems unfurl in spring with a rosy, marbled coloration that fades to green as summer approaches. In autumn, the marbling returns in coral and copper, enduring mild winters. The unusual small flowers (Bishop’s Hats) are held above the foliage in airy sprays, and resemble miniature Columbines. Reliable and long-lived, Epimediums can adapt to drier conditions once established, spreading slowly and steadily. Both flowers and foliage are prized for small arrangements.

Epimedium x versicolor ‘Cupreum’

Epimedium x versicolor ‘Cupreum’ (P-2138)

Each 15.25

We have botanist Andre Donkelaar, who worked at Ghent University’s Botanic Garden over 150 years ago, to thank for this marvelous steadfast cultivar. An Epimedium pinnatum ssp. colchicum and Epimedium grandiflorum descendant, ‘Cupreum’ has been volunteering a pastel floral delicacy of petite rosy-coral blooms with lemon-yellow central cups ever since its 1854 introduction. Prancing atop ultrathin stems and hair-fringed bronzy-red spring foliage, the sprightly flowers enliven an attractive and enduring evergreen clump that becomes more green in the summer, and then broadcasts cozy maroon and chestnut hues for fall.

Blooms April–May

Size: 12" – 15" high x 15" – 18" wide.

Hardy to zone 5.

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