Specialty Nursery Profile: Garden Vision Epimediums, Phillipston, MA
As the summer edges closer to autumn, the cooler temperatures and still warm soil will be a good time to plant perennials and woody plants, which will develop good root systems without the stress of heat. Epimediums are one perennial that will benefit from fall planting, and those who do so will be rewarded with beautiful flowers and foliage the following season. In fact, some have beautiful winter foliage that turn bronzed or burgundy if temperatures and heavy snow do not affect them earlier. Karen Perkins’ Garden Vision Epimediums, Philipston, Massachusetts, specializes in these Eurasian and east Asian natives, which are members of the barberry family (Berberidaceae). It’s an impressive collection with species and cultivars represented - the difficulty is winnowing down what to pick and plant! In addition, Karen sells a discerning selection of companion plants that like the same conditions as epimediums. I’ve met Karen a few times at the plant fairs she attends (sadly the pandemic has resulted in such events being cancelled) and purchased her plants, which are healthy and establish beautifully. Please visit and support her business at www.epimediums.com.
The arts or horticulture?
Both. I grew up in the shadow of Longwood Gardens, and it has indelibly imprinted on my brain. My first job out of college was as a floral designer. Later working for the Tower Hill Botanic Garden, I did demonstrations for garden clubs on how to use plant materials creatively. I even had “groupies”! My floral design skills also came in handy during their special events.
For the last 36 years I have taught wreath making workshops at Tower Hill that highlight the vast diversity of plants with winter interest. Some people may think this is a frivolous way to promote horticulture, but I think that it is a hook to get people to look at, and appreciate plants. A few years ago, a custodian at Tower
Hill took one of my wreath making workshops. The following year he told me that I had forever changed the way that he looked at the landscape. During walks with his wife, he began to notice things about plants that he never paid attention to before. I think that anyone who has a keen interest in horticulture also looks on the world with an aesthetic eye.
However, years of being self-employed in the nursery business have left me little time to pursue my creative side—well, other than through photography, writing and garden-making. I am looking forward to retirement to delve more into art.
You studied public garden management and worked in public horticulture prior to taking over Garden Vision Epimediums nursery in 2009. What encouraged you take the leap from the financial security of a full-time job at a public garden towards a small business owner?
It wasn’t much of a leap for me. I actually started working full time in the nursery in 2001. At the time I was married to Darrell Probst, who started Garden Vision Epimediums in 1997. The nursery grew out of his
passion for collecting and studying epimediums. He used it as a way to distribute these uncommon, but garden-worthy plants that he gathered from keen gardeners and his plant collecting trips to China, Korea, and Japan. Epimediums were being over-collected in their native habitats for medicinal use. The nursery served as a way to preserve them, by getting them into cultivation. It also helped to finance his collecting endeavors.
I don’t think that Darrell ever planned to stay in the nursery business long term. He needed someone to work on the practical day to day nursery operations because he was spending a lot of time planning and executing his own collecting trips, as well as managing those of his assistant, Joanna Zhang. She completed 29 different collecting trips in China between 2001 and 2003. Darrell also wanted to free up more time to hybridize, which was his primary passion, and the reason for enlisting my full time help in the first place. The nursery was growing, and so there was a track record there. I had been working for the Tower Hill Botanic Garden for 17 years and it was time for a change. I was already helping Darrell out as time allowed, so it wasn’t a big stretch. Plus, I liked the idea of spending more time at home and not commuting.
In 2009, we moved the nursery to a new location in Phillipston, MA where had I moved after Darrell and I separated in 2006. At that time I became the official “new” owner, and took over all, instead of most, of the nursery duties, although Darrell still serves as a consultant.
Running a specialty nursery is juggling a lot of tasks that involve watering, propagating, controlling pests and diseases, and inventorying supplies. Some of these tasks are seasonal, therefore the window of opportunity to complete them is small. Given that Garden Vision Epimediums is a one-person operation, what is your approach towards taking it day by day?
In a nutshell, I prioritize tasks and schedule them for certain times, mostly dictated by the season of the year and the daily weather. That is why it has taken me so long to complete this interview, spring happened, and the weeds didn’t get the memo that the coronavirus has shut everything down. Most of my housework and personal life also gets the short shift, especially during the spring and fall, but if I am honest with myself-- really all year long.
Luckily I sell a plant that is rather difficult to come by, and I don’t have a lot of competition, so I can schedule my tasks in a way that is not ideal for the customer in this age of “instant gratification”, but it allows me the time to complete most of them. For instance, I wait to ship until June after the foliage has hardened off-- long after most people want their plants. This is actually better for the plants—it causes much less trauma to them during shipping. It also allows me to supplement my mail order sales by opening the nursery to the public, and to participate in off-site plant sales when the epimediums are in bloom and are the most appealing and saleable. I am also madly photographing, re-identifying plants whose labels are lost, propagating, watering, weeding, culling, fertilizing, etc. This allows me to make a modest living, as about 70% of my income comes in during the months of March, April and May. I also break the rules sometimes. For example, I don’t wait for the ideal time to propagate, but am dividing continuously from April through September. I also plant when I have a shovel in my hand, because I have learned that if I don’t do it then, it doesn’t get done. I save most of my office work: website additions/modifications/troubleshooting, catalog, taxes, talks, label printing and other desk tasks, for the winter while the plants are dormant. I never get everything done, but I do get enough done to get by.
The Philipston nursery is not arranged in rows as with the first nursery in Hubbardston, but rather in display beds that too serve as stock beds.
For a gardener who is beginning to explore plants especially shade perennials, how would you define and describe an epimedium? Why should epimediums be deserving of a place in a garden?
Epimediums are easy to grow. They have underground woody rhizomes or stems, which gives them a resilience, even though they have a delicate appearance. And they have a “Wow” factor. Most people, unless they are keen gardeners, aren’t familiar with them, and that gives them an exotic appeal. They have an unusual flower form and remarkable and varied foliage color in the earliest part of spring when few other herbaceous perennials are strutting their stuff. For the most part, pests, diseases and deer leave them alone.
Although they are known as shade plants, here in the Northeast, we can get away with growing them in quite a bit of sun, as long as they are in good, humus-rich, well drained soils with adequate moisture. That in itself multiplies their usefulness in the garden. The most floriferous section of my stock beds is located in a spot that gets full sun from 10 or 11 in the morning until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. It was established on an old composting site on my property, so the soil is rich in organic matter and seldom dries out. Most years, very few epimediums planted there show sunscald by the end of the season. So it pays to play around with siting. More light will produce a larger plant with more flowers and better spring and fall foliage color.
Epimedium ‘Ninja Stars’
Just as carnivorous plants tantalize collectors with their sinister schemes, the spiny foliage of some epimediums, like Epimedium wushanense and E. ‘Spine Tingler’ appeals to my macabre heart. Their imposing size and stature makes some of them the ‘giants’ of epimediums. Are there any that you like to single out and can visualize as attractive pot plants?
In my Massachusetts climate, I don’t really encourage people to use them in troughs or pots, as repeated fall and spring freezing and thawing of their underground rhizomes can kill them. So to grow them in a pot, you would need to protect the root zone so that the soils freeze slowly, stay frozen, and thaw out slowly in spring. I encourage people living in northern climates to overwinter their epimedium pots or troughs either on the north side of a building, with a protective cover mulch of leaves or pine needles around the container or in an unheated garage, to modify any temperature fluctuations.
Species with spiny leaves, generally the evergreen Chinese species, as a group tend to be a little less hardy than the deciduous, heart-shaped leaf types. Further south where the winters are not as extreme, they would work better planted in pots and located in the shade. Many evergreen Chinese species such as E. wushanense, E. myrianthum, E. davidii would be attractive pot plants in warmer climates under the right siting.
The new foliage of epimediums have a beautiful stain-glass or jewel quality that would give Murano glass a run for money. I love how some Epimedium grandiflorum have red margins, making their leaves look like emerald hearts lined with rubies. Or the splotching of Epimedium myrianthum ‘Mottled Madness’ that looks like a camouflage creation of a menswear designer. What are some of your companion plants can you recommend or even sell to complement such foliage displays?
Hosta is the number one companion plant that I recommend. Most epimediums have smaller, finer foliage than hostas, so they compliment one another texturally. Hostas also emerge later in the spring than do epimediums, so that they aren’t competing for the limelight at the same time. Daffodils also make good companions for epimediums as they bloom concurrently. Minor bulbs such as Chionodoxa and Scilla bloom just before the epimediums come into bloom. Plant them in between clumps, or amongst the spreading types that have long rhizomes and create an open latticework of underground stems. This allows the bulbs room to emerge in between the rhizomes. As the bulbs finish their bloom, the enlarging epimedium leaves masks their yellowing foliage.
Most of my nursery stock beds are “gardens” are composed of different types of epimediums with a companion plant salted in here and there. But in my original garden I have a combination of Epimedium ‘Kagayahime’ along with Actaea, Helleborus, Hosta, Kirengeshoma, Porteranthus, and Veronicastrum which is a knockout every year. Any shade perennial with a different leaf, height or silhouette would work. Some of the companion plants that I sell include shade lovers that bloom around the time of epimedium bloom. They include several varieties of Sanguinaria or Bloodroot, Primula, Cardamine, Chloranthus, Trillium and Jeffersonia- an epimedium relative.
Actaea (dark purple), Helleborus, Hosta, Porteranthus, and Veronicastrum create congenial pairings with Epimedium ‘Kagayhime’.
Japan has societies devoted to one plant, like sakurakosh (Primula sieboldii) or Rohdea japonica. The delicate colors and jesting shapes of the epimedium flowers should appeal to the Japanese sensibilities. Does such a society exist? And is there a devoted following for epimediums?
There is definitely a devoted following, but I don’t know of any societies that focus exclusively on epimediums. There is an Epimedium page on Facebook where the participants post their epimedium photos and questions. As a one woman show, my time is spent mostly with my nose to the grindstone, so I don’t have my finger on the pulse on the latest happenings in the horticulture world. There may be a group out there that I don’t know about, and would be happy to hear about. I do have many devoted customers, some who have been adding to their collections since the nursery started.
I like to say that there are two guidelines in Epimedium 101: the Eurasian species that can withstand some modicum of drought and are groundcovers; the east Asian species that clump and prefer moisture to thrive. Before more Asian epimediums enter the general trade, the ones available were largely Eurasian taxa like Epimedium pinnatum and E. x warleyense. How would you advise someone to distinguish the difference between the two groups in a nursery setting?
Some variation in the leaves of different epimediums.
I think this is where the biggest misconception about epimediums arises--the notion that epimediums are ALL spreading groundcovers that LIKE dry soils. The drought-tolerant Eurasian species that you speak of tend to be low-growing, spreading, with heart-shaped, evergreen or semi-evergreen leaves of good substance. Most of them have been generally available in the market for a longer time, and thus have perpetuated this characterization. But the world of Epimediums is so much more varied than that. Also, most of the types that I sell are clump-formers, not spreaders.
Heart-shaped deciduous-leaved forms of lesser substance are generally native to Japan and Korea and are not as drought tolerant.
The newer-to-cultivation Chinese species often bear arrow-shaped and/or spiny evergreen leaves, and also need adequate moisture to thrive.
Epimedium ‘Sweetheart’ growing between the cracks of a rock.
A few epimediums other than the Eurasian ones will tolerate dry shade after they are established (see list on my website under Find Plants/By Growth and Habit/Particularly drought tolerant), but none of them LIKE drought and they all appreciate adequate moisture along with good drainage. Epimediums are actually woody plants with underground woody stems, so in general, they may suffer drought better than most herbaceous perennials, again feeding into the notion that they are all spreading plants that they only like shady, dry soils. They also put down deep roots which helps them to weather drought.
Labeling is a continual task for any specialty nursery - luckily for Karen, most epimediums do not self seed generously like hellebores therefore keeping stock true is not a huge task.
Keeping accurate records and labeling can be a continual challenge for those nurseries that specialize in one genus or group of plants that are easily confused or cross-pollinate easily. What system have you developed in place to ensure that your stock is properly identified and true?
Endless labeling, weeding, culling and re-identifying those plants that have lost their labels. I have found that most epimediums are not weedy by nature, so giving the nursery a once over in spring, and weeding out any
seedlings as I come upon them keeps most stock true. Certain kinds seem to produce more seedlings than others, and I am sure it also has something to do with the varieties with which they are pollinating.
Mulching around the plants also helps as does planting thickly so that the seedlings get shaded out. I occasionally have a mishap where a seed has fallen down into a clump and I divide the clump and pot up the
errant seedling and label it incorrectly. But my customers are good at telling me about any mislabeled plants they have received. That is another good thing about either selling my plants in flower, or sending the mail order plants in June after flowering, since I have the opportunity to cull any that aren’t correctly identified, while they are in flower.
Given the close proximity of several hundred species and cultivars, the opportunities for deliberately crossed and open pollinated seedlings are enormous. Are you currently evaluating any promising seedlings or have released a few within the last five years you’re keen to promote?
If I had the drive, or the time to do so, maybe I would. But as I said earlier, I spend my time weeding out seedlings rather than planting them out. I do evaluate and introduce seedlings from others including Darrell
Probst, who still occasionally offers me new hybrids or species to introduce. ‘Ninja Stars’ is his most recent introduction. It has the long, arrow-shaped, spiny leaves characteristic of many of the Chinese species, but it hardier and more vigorous than either of its parent species, especially in my northern climate.
Epimedium ‘Short Story’
Local plant geek Mark McDonough has been working on some new varieties as well. I introduced a hybrid creation of his last year that he named ‘Short Story’. Again, this plant has the Chinese native E. brachyrrhizum in its parentage, but its hybrid vigor makes for a much stronger growing plant here in Massachusetts—like an improved E. brachyrrhizum on steroids. There are many breeders, both in the U.S. and in Europe introducing new varieties, so there no lack of new hybrids coming into the market, kick started by the collecting efforts of plant explorers like Darrell.
In truth, I am not on the cutting edge of new epimediums, but making the wide variety of types that are already in existence, available to a public that largely has no idea that they are out there. It has just been
relatively recently-- in the 1990’s-- that any sort of selection, other than a tried and true handful of types, were available to the general public. For years I have carried approximately 170 different species and varieties for
sale, and for most people, that is a list is overwhelming enough.
Dividing a clump into several small pieces requires a small knife like the one shown here.
The higher cost of buying epimediums, than say Nepeta or hosta, is due to the time it takes to bulk up, divide, and grow to a saleable size. How long does it take to propagate a species or cultivar for sale?
Starting with a single plant that has been grown on and tested to see if it is worthy of introduction, or a species new to cultivation that may have started as a single division and grown on to divisible size—that in itself can take from 5-15 years. For a very small operation like mine, from that point in time, it may take 2-3 years minimum to have enough potted plants to sell and also to have enough stock to put back into the ground to build up for future sales. But remember that I run a small, specialty nursery, so selling 50 plants of any one variety is a lot for me. So it depends. If I had more demand, it would take much longer, or if the selection was really spectacular--tissue culture could possibly be employed. Epimediums have woody stems, and therefore are slower growing and take longer to grow into a saleable size. That is one reason they tend to be more expensive than other herbaceous perennials. In general, the new plants I introduce command a premium price, and that slows down the demand enough so that I am able to sell the
plant sooner rather than later to a small, keenly interested audience.
Chinese and Korean scientists have developed micropropagation techniques for epimediums since
these plants are used medicinally to increase sex potency. They hope that such techniques will reduce the harvesting pressure on wild populations (rhizomes are still sold in local markets). Specialty nursery owners have lamented the lack of access to a tissue culture facility that will accept small projects.
Have you considered commercializing your selections to cover the costs and time of growing less lucrative plants?
I have not gotten involved with tissue culture as it would not be economically feasible with a nursery of my size. I am able to keep up with demand by vegetatively propagating my existing stock and using supply and
demand rules to determine pricing. Also, since I am a better plants person than a business person, I try to offer the largest selection of epimediums that I can, without letting cost analysis determine my decisions. My goal is to make the most varieties of epimediums available to gardeners while making enough
money to support myself.
Vine weevil
Fortunately few pests and diseases seldom trouble epimediums. However, are there any problems people may encounter and should be aware of?
Voles can be a problem with epimediums, but I can honestly say that I haven’t yet had an epimedium that was totally decimated by a vole infestation. Usually parts of the rhizome remain, and can be reset so that the
plant recovers.
Black Vine weevil is mostly a nuisance, marking the foliage with “c” shaped cuts to the margin of the leaves. The grubs also feed on the roots, but not so much, in my experience, as to make a difference to the health
of the plant. I do use beneficial nematodes and visual inspection to decrease the Vine weevil infestations in pots.
Virus is the only serious problem. And my advice is to be careful where you buy your plants, and to destroy your planting-- by discarding it, not composting it, and not re-planting the area with epimediums if you find a virus infestation. Virus usually appears as yellow markings on the leaves or as leaf distortion. As I propagate
from my own clean stock and do not import plants, I seldom see any virus.
Some people have had trouble with rabbits eating the foliage and flowers. Usually they are only interested in the soft, new growth, but some customers have told me that their rabbits eat any type of epimedium foliage. So if you have a large, hungry rabbit population, perhaps you should steer clear of epimediums, or plan to erect a physical barrier.
What is your desert island plant (not Epimediums)?
I hate this question, because, how can you choose just one? Hmmmm.. maybe the most intriguing plant that seems to stick with me is Strongylodon macrobotrys—the Jade Vine. I’ve never grown it, but was reminded
of it just recently where I saw it blooming on an arbor over a garden gate in Hawaii. It looks like something from an alien planet. It blooms in a shade of greenish turquoise not normally found in nature. Its flowers are so foreign to the northeastern U.S. landcape. I first saw it in bloom in a glasshouse at Kew Gardens where it caused quite a sensation, and it has haunted me ever since. It won’t grow for me here in Massachusetts, but I bet it would on a desert island.
Most people think that since I specialize in Epimediums, that they are my favorite plants, but I have many, many favorites. That is one reason why I aspired to work in public gardens as a youth.
Karen at her Trade Secrets sales booth.
Any advice for those seeking to start and open their specialty nursery?
If you are looking to get rich, you should be in another business. You need to love what you do.
Have goals of what you want to be because you can’t be/doeverything.
Observe how others do it, ask questions.
It also helps to specialize in a plant like epimediums that have aesthetic appeal, but is also easy to grow, so that you not only have plant geeks and botanic gardens and nurseries as customers, but also regular back
yard gardeners. Also, learn to live by the weather. Keep an eye on the hour by hour forecast, in order to best schedule your week.
Make the most of opportunities to encourage people to grow your plants. I publicize my plants through participation in specialty plant sales, doing presentations for garden groups, writing or assisting with garden
articles and blogs. So it really, really helps to have some speaking and writing skills under your belt. I was amazed at how many of the skills I developed through working at the botanic garden translated to running a
nursery. I’ve been fortunate that every year one or more people/organizations asks me to collaborate on a project to promote epimediums, without me ever having to solicit them. I guess that is the fortunate result that comes from specializing in a really good garden plant.
