Description
(syn. japonica asiatica)
This is the lovely Asian species (some say subspecies, some say variety) from which so many of the gorgeous Japanese cultivars have been bred. In fact it spreads from Japan across Manchuria, Russia and Korea and is correspondingly variable in both leaf pattern and flower colour. The latter varies from the usual blue, though pink and pastel blue shades to near white and white, sometimes with differently coloured anthers or bicoloured flowers. It is said to be mostly white is eastern China which I cannot confirm, it is also said to be totally deciduous losing its leaves totally in winter, which in cultivation is certainly not always the case, in fact it is quite uncommon.
This pink form is vegetatively propagated from a selection made from the wider species and it remains rare in cultivation. These are not seedlings, they are divisions of the plants illustrated with a green eye and pale pink petals, contrasted with darker pink anthers borne on white or pink-blushed filaments.
In the wild this species is a native of mountain woods, and any habitat or compost which mimics the conditions of a woodland floor will be good; moisture retentive, humus-rich soil with good drainage in half or dappled shade. Lime soils are neither essential nor to be avoided.
Horticultural divisions this came to us originally from plants raised in Belgium.
This form introduced to our lists November 2017.
