As spring approaches, I am patiently waiting for the snow to subside, to make room for those long-awaited spring blossoms. Many of us are familiar with the crocuses and other small bulbs such as scillas and pushkinias, these dainty flowers that can become naturalized in our yards and provide small flower carpets, pushing through last year's leaf litter. Whenever I am starting or renewing a flower bed, I incorporate these spring bulbs in the fall of the planting year to give me joy for years to come.
One herald of spring, which is much rarer in the landscape is hepatica. These distinctive simple flowers make their appearance at about the same time as the crocuses but are usually planted in shade to partial shade. The rosettes of new three-lobed leaves spring up after the blue happy flowers have finished blooming Leaves spring up on hairy stems. They have a shiny green leathery surface and are hairy on the undersides. They persist throughout the year and into the following spring. Though faded in spring these leaves begin photosynthesis well before other plants are even up. Resulting in the early dainty flower display.
Hepatica is a genus of herbaceous plant in the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae). There are from 7 to 12 species of hepatica world wide. Hepatica hails from Central and Eastern Europe, Asia and also from Eastern North America. Wisconsin is home to two native species, H. acutiloba which is found in rich creek bottoms in sandy alkaline soil and H. Americana which prefers more acidic location on woodland slopes. In these areas, they are known to hybridize.
Hepatica in my yard starts blooming in mid-April and has a blooming period of a little over two weeks. A single flower emerges one day and then consecutive flowers continue opening over some time. The flowers close up in the evening and on rainy days. Most of the flowers are single, but some double-flower varieties have been developed in Japan where it has been cultivated since the 1700s. The flowers range from purple to deep blue to pink and white. In my yard the blue varieties seem to be more robust, this may be due to their age in that they have been established longer. If it is a dry spring, I will lightly water hepaticas while in bloom.
Early pollinators, such as carpenter bees, sweat bees and mining bees are attracted to this plant. Hepatica flowers lack nectar, but the pollen is an important food source for bee larvae.
Hepatica also known as liverleaf, grows to about 5 to 15cm high and a spread of about 20cm. It prefers rich to average well-drained soil. It does not like the soil to be compacted, so can benefit from a yearly light topdressing of compost. You can also loosen the soil around the plant when gardening in the vicinity. In Britain, many enthusiasts, grow these beauties in greenhouses planted in pots of compost.
I obtained my hepaticas from gardening friends and are seldom seen at garden centres. It may be that they are difficult to produce in bulk and perhaps since they bloom so early, may not be an attractive buy for consumers. In the wild, seeds are dispersed by ants, who take the seed, which has a fleshy appendage to their nests. There the seed is discarded and will hopefully germinate to start a new plant away from the mother plant. I am relatively new to hepaticas so have not noticed any seed development on my plants. If you want to try and propagate your beauties, harvest the seeds about 60 days after flowering, and scatter them, where you like them to grow. A more reliable method of propagation is to divide the mother plant in August or September, tease the roots apart and plant your divisions. Keep disturbance to a minimum and plant the new plants right away in rich humus soil in full or partial shade. It is best placed in small clumps with little competition from more robust perennials. Find locations where it can thrive undisturbed for years.
This column is provided courtesy of the Saskatchewan Perennial Society (SPS; [email protected]). Check our website (www.saskperennial.ca) or Facebook page (www.facebook.com/saskperennial) for a list of upcoming gardening events.
