Epimediums by David Sisley. April's meeting

At our April meeting we had a wonderful talk about epimediums by David Sisley from Straight Mile Nursery. David is passionate about epimediums. Most of us were unfamiliar with these little plants which like to be grown in shade and are very good as ground cover.

It was a different type of talk. We weren’t shown pictures of the plants, instead David brought lots of different varieties with him which were passed around the audience as David told us about the various leaf shapes and colours, the flower types and the growing habits. At the end of the talk we had an opportunity to purchase the plants which many of us did.

David told us that he was a garden designer by profession and started his career in 1976. He is still designing gardens. He also started his nursery business growing Japanese Maples and sold them at plant fairs. However, Japanese Maples are deciduous and are therefore just twigs in the spring which is when most plant fairs take place. David sold his larger nursery and moved to a smaller nursery and decided to concentrate on growing epimediums. These are small plants with delicate flowers in various colours yellow, white, red, pink. His nursery is the only one specialising in epimediums. Unfortunately, it is not open to the public. They sell the plants on line.

David told us that these plants are said to have mystic properties. Herbalists in history claimed they could prevent pregnancy and knew them as ‘Baronwart’ while the Chinese thought they were an aphrodisiac and they were commonly called ‘Horney Goats Weed’.

When caring for them, if they are the older European varieties which spread more, then you cut off their leaves before they flower in spring so that you expose the flower stems, but if they are the newer varieties their flowers stand higher and you should not cut off the leaves. To propagate them you can divide the clump. The newer varieties also appreciate a better quality soil. When planting them make sure you include lots of garden compost.

Once you know what these plants look like I am sure you will spot them in various gardens as I have been doing since our talk. This is their website if you would like to look at the plants or are thinking of buying one https://www.straightmile.net/