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.
Though this robust large-flowering cultivar was introduced by Cobblewood in 1999, it originated at Pierre Bennerup’s Sunny Border Nurseries. Trimmed with prominent white-tipped spurs, an enchanting bounty of sumptuous wine-purple blooms on wire-thin stems sojourns well above the oval-shaped bright green leaflets, which sport cordate bases, spiny-toothed margins and bronzy-maroon new spring growth. The dapper, dense deciduous clump endures occasional dry conditions, works best en masse and can be planted beneath trees or shrubs, along shady pathways and in woodland gardens.
Blooms April–May
Size: 9" – 12" high x 12" – 15" wide.
Hardy to zone 5.
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Other selections in this genus:
- Epimedium ‘Amber Queen’
- Epimedium ‘Domino’
- Epimedium x ‘Enchantress’
- Epimedium grandiflorum ‘Dark Beauty’
- Epimedium grandiflorum ‘Koji’
- Epimedium grandiflorum ‘Lilafee’
- Epimedium grandiflorum ‘Purple Pixie’
- Epimedium grandiflorum ‘White Queen’
- Epimedium ‘Mandariin Star’
- Epimedium x perralchicum ‘Frohnleiten’
- Epimedium perralderianum
- Epimedium ‘Pink Elf’
- Epimedium ‘Pink Champagne’
- Epimedium pinnatum ssp. colchicum
- Epimedium x rubrum
- Epimedium stellulatum ‘Wudang Star’
- Epimedium x versicolor ‘Cupreum’
- Epimedium x versicolor ‘Sulphureum’
- Epimedium x warleyense
- Epimedium x warleyense ‘Ellen Willmott’
- Epimedium x warleyense ‘Orange Queen’
- Epimedium x youngianum ‘Merlin’
- Epimedium x youngianum ‘Niveum’
- Epimedium x youngianum ‘Roseum’