Epimedium sulphureum
Dry shade beneath trees defeats most flowering perennials, and this is one of the few that handles it. Epimedium x versicolor 'Sulphureum' holds sprays of small primrose-yellow flowers, each with short spurs, on thin wiry stems just above the leaves in September and October. The foliage is the other half of the plant: heart-shaped leaflets, evergreen, bronze-flushed when new and again in winter.
Use it as low cover under established trees and large shrubs, along a shaded path edge, at the front of a woodland border, or in the strip beside a building that never sees sun. It knits into a continuous mat over a few years and suppresses weeds once it does. Good company for ferns, hellebores and hostas.
Plant in part to full shade in soil improved with compost, and water it through the first two summers while the roots take hold. After that it copes with dry, root-filled ground where little else will grow, which is the reason to plant it. It spreads slowly on short rhizomes rather than running. Space 30 to 40 cm apart for cover.
Forms a mat around 0.35 m tall and 0.3 to 0.5 m across, widening slowly.
Trimming: Shear the old evergreen leaves off in late winter, before the flower stems come up. This is the one job that matters: skip it and the flowers open hidden under tired foliage. New leaves follow within weeks.
Deadheading: Not required. The flowers are small and the spent stems disappear under the new leaves as they expand.
Fertilising: Mulch with compost or leaf mould after the late-winter cut back. A light slow-release fertiliser helps on poor, dry soil under trees where the plant is competing for everything.
Watering: Water through the first two summers. Once established it tolerates dry shade, though it always looks better with occasional deep watering in a long dry spell.
Pest Control: Vine weevil grubs can damage roots in containers. Slugs and snails graze new leaves in spring, and the damage shows until the next flush.
Disease Management: Rarely troubled. Leaf spot or mosaic marking sometimes appears on old foliage, which is another reason to shear it off each winter rather than leaving it in place.
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