A UK National Collection

Epimediums

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.

Epimediumgrandiflorum ‘Shiho’ is a lower growing variety of the species with smaller purple flowers. We bought this only recently and therefore not had it long enough to fully appraise.

Epimedium grandiflorum 'Shiho'