Re: Hepatica was: drought tolerant

>     You may want to be careful with the generalizations about Hepatica and
> their soil pH requirements. Here on the East Coast we have two species, H.
> acutiloba which definitely prefers the acidic side. H. americana leans more
> toward the neutral to sweet side (according to the literature). I have both
> in my garden and I am acidic over limestone strata. There is a lot of debate
> among gardeners about this issue. Have yet to see it resolved. Anyone else
> care to jump in here?

Most of the literature that I've seen has it the other way around --
H. americana is more acidic, and H. acutiloba is found in calcareous
woodlands...

Rickett, in his "Wildflowers of the United States, Vol. 1, Part 1" 
says "They both occupy much the same range, but H. americana is more
likely to be found in acid soils, H. acutiloba in limy soils."

Swink and Wilhelm concur in "Plants of the Chicago Region", saying
of Hepatica americana "[It is] locally frequent in woodlands, generally
where the soil is more acid than that where the previous species is
found."

I've also tended to see H. americana in environs with more moisture
and greater acidity, usually in pine or oak forests with substantial
decomposing leaf litter.

For what it's worth, I wrote up H. acutiloba (the less acidic one) as
our Plant of the Month this past April:

   http://www.mallorn.com/pom/Apr99/

Not much talk about cultural requirements, but the pictures are pretty.  :)

Chris

---------------------------------------------------------------------
To sign-off this list, send email to majordomo@mallorn.com with the
message text UNSUBSCRIBE PERENNIALS
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index