'Curiouser and curiouser!'
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This site is about my journey of growing Hepatica in the Pacific Northwest. Along the way, I have encountered happiness, joy, and excitement, as well as faced disappointment and frustration, but I have been very fortunate to have a chance to make many friends all over the world.
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We have a dark and long rainy winter in the Pacific Northwest and so late winter flowering plants are like jewels in the garden. When I first started to become interested in Hepatica, there were very few nurseries that carried even our North American native hepatica such as H. acutiloba and H. americana.
Growing from seed is a great way to understand how Hepatica do in our area. After reading many Japanese Hepatica books and talking with my friends in Japan who grow Hepatica well, I realized that I had to figure out by myself what works and what doesn’t in terms of growing Hepatica in my own garden. None of the fancy volcanic soils like akadama or kanuma that are recommended in Japanese
I am very fortunate to have many flower friends all over the world who regularly exchange seeds with me and I was lucky enough to obtain fresh seeds of Hepatica from them.
books are easily accessible here. And even though every Hepatica book you read will tell you to move your Hepatica pots to the shade in mid-spring when the sunlight starts to get strong, you need to figure out for yourself just how strong “strong” actually is. And sometimes, it can be a painful lesson to learn.
After several years of trial and error, I am finally getting to the point where I can focus on breeding interesting flower colors and filled and semi-double forms of Hepatica. Also, since Hepatica leaves remain almost year round, adding those beautiful flowers to unique leaf forms is my dream.
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Now we have a small Hepatica enthusiasts group in my local area and I am enjoying exchanging knowledge with them and sharing plants and seeds. Also, it has been a joy connecting with Hepatica enthusiasts around the world and learning from them as well. I hope that we will all keep growing for a long time. Hopefully the dark Northwest winter will be a bit brighter from now on.
Great Hepatica Resources
These groups are some of the best places to meet Hepatica enthusiasts.
