Low expectations usually go hand-in-hand with Midwestern gardeners when going for a walk in winter. Cold wet winds, perhaps some lingering snow in the north and east shadows, do not usually conjure up vivid visions of flowering perennials. While there certainly is not an abundance of bloom in late February and early March as in mid-May, there are fully opened flowers to be found in native woods and gardens. Bundling up for a winter walk can be rewarding.
The name of our local native hepatica has been recently changed to H. nobilis variety acuta. The older wildflower guides will list H. acutiloba and H. americana. Now both are under H. nobilis as H. var. acuta and H. var. obtusa. For me, Hepatica nobilis was the European species, so it is going to take a while for my old brain to make the transition.
According to the doctrine of signatures, god or nature has placed a plant into the natural world for each illness of man. Those plants can often be recognized by their shapes which resemble parts of human anatomy. Hepatica has leaves that resemble the shape of a human liver, thus the name ‘liverlobe’. Around the late 1800’s collecting of hepatica as an herb for medicinal purposes exceeded 450,000 pounds in a single year. I can remember my father taking his spoon of dark brown liquid from a patent medicine bottle that had hepatica both in the name and the contents. The fact that many of the patent medicines contained a high percentage of alcohol may have helped as much or more than the herbal remedy it carried.
The sharp-lobed hepatica (H. nobilis acuta) is the species I find closest to my home. Within walking distance of my garden is the Blue River with its limestone bluffs. All along those rocks ledges can be found colonies of very old plants, usually in pockets of leafmold over rocky soil. I have seen a few growing beneath sheets of moss on large boulders. The prevailing color of bloom seems to be white, but on occasion lavender-blue will be seen. When watching for nice color forms pay particular attention to the stamens. On occasion the stamens will be a contrasting color to the sepals. Blooming period is from late February to mid-March and well into April.
The flowers are actually composed of showy, ¾ inch, sepals that appear as petals. Stems are quite hairy and the fuzz is very apparent on new stems. Flower stems reach from four to about eight inches in height. Foliage is evergreen on hepatica, but very tattered by bloom time. In late fall and early winter the foliage will turn bronze adding to their show. Just as blooms fully appear, the new, softly hairy, leaves will unfold. The amount and pattern of mottling in hepatica foliage will vary from plant to plant, just as the bloom color varies. I have seen leaves with such a high degree of mottling I would grow the plant if it never bloomed.
The soil in my garden ranges in pH from neutral to slightly acidic over limestone. Most of my hepatica are growing in raised beds containing a high percentage of compost and leafmold. All are located in the midst of shrub and tree root competition. I have noticed over the years seed has gotten around a bit. I am now finding hepatica in more rich soils of the shade garden. The only care I give my plants is chopped leaf mulch each fall. All plants have a north and easterly exposure from the north side of a hill.
I have Trillium nivale as a companion to my sharp-lobed hepatica. Sometimes they will bloom together, other times the hepatica blooms just a bit later than the trillium. When the dwarf snow trillium goes dormant hepatica foliage will persist the remaining seasons. Trout lilies, or Erythronium, are also favorites companions for both flower and foliage