Introduce a little elfin magic to woodland plantings, glades or other shady spots with Epimedium 'Red Maximum'. You wouldn’t think something so pretty and delicate could be so tough, but this award-winning red barrenwort ticks both boxes! It provides fantastic interest through the seasons in difficult shady or semi-shady areas. In early spring, red and bronze flushed leaves with interesting spiny-toothed edges emerge, adding some warm colour. Following that, delicate sprays of wine-red flowers with creamy spurs are borne in profusion on wiry stems, hovering in a fairy-like fashion about the foliage (no surprise Epimedium is also called fairy wings). In summer, thislow-growing, gradually spreading perennial continues to quietly perform its useful groundcover role, before the leaves turn reddish again in autumn, chiming well with the season. It even remains semi-evergreen through winter.

Epimedium 'Red Maximum' provides a great answer to the vexed question of what to plant in shady, problematic, uninteresting areas, such as under trees, or beneath the shade of large shrubs. Once it’s settled in, it will virtually take care of itself, slowly spreading over time to fill the gap with lush foliage. It can add a much-needed  delicate and arty touch to dark corners or narrow, shady borders where most other plants struggle .Although Epimedium 'Red Maximum' is a very resilient plant which tolerates tough conditions, it will need something more gentle to get it started before it heads into challenging conditions. We recommend the bare roots are started in temporary pots and gown on for a few months, until they have formed a stronger root system, before planting into the ground. Once it’s all settled in, Epimedium 'Red Maximum' creates lovely textured groundcover which is effective at supressing weeds. Happy in moist but free-draining soil, it will tolerate dry shade once it’s established, so keep it watered in the first year.

Almost effortless, resilient and low-maintenance as well as very pretty, it’s no wonder this incredibly useful plant has an Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS).