Wulfenia x schwarzii

A choice evergreen alpine perennial with glossy, scalloped rosettes and wonderfully vivid blue flowers. The broad leaves form substantial evergreen cushions, from which slightly curved, largely leafless stems rise to carry long one-sided racemes of tubular, sky-blue to violet-blue flowers. It is sterile — but apparently hasn’t noticed, producing numerous little daughter rosettes on the flowering stems after blooming instead. Quite an effective way of making sure the garden gets more of it without the bother of seed.

This remarkable hybrid combines two plants from opposite ends of the remarkably disjunct Wulfenia range: Wulfenia baldaccii, a Balkan endemic of northern Albania and Montenegro, and W. orientalis, from the Nur Mountains of southern Turkey. The hybrid was produced at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Jena, in the former East Germany, under Professor Schwarz, and was formally named Wulfenia × schwarzii by Dr Lothar Lepper in 1970. Lepper’s original paper, Wulfenia × schwarzii Lepper, Hybr. nov. – ein Bastard zwischen W. baldaccii Degen und W. orientalis Boiss., appeared in volume 19 of the university’s scientific journal. 

The parent species have wonderfully remote distributions. W. baldaccii is restricted to the Prokletije mountains of northern Albania and adjacent Montenegro, while W. orientalis occurs in the Nur Mountains of southern Turkey. The hybrid therefore brings together two isolated members of a genus famous for its disjunct mountain distribution. 

In cultivation it is considerably more useful than its rarity might suggest. Give it a cool, humus-rich, well-drained soil in partial shade, preferably in a shaded rock garden, alpine trough or at the woodland edge. It also makes an excellent companion for small ferns and other shade-loving alpines. Flowering is generally from June into July, with the evergreen rosettes providing interest throughout winter. 

Its subsequent horticultural history is almost as interesting. The German plantsman Wilhelm Schacht received the plant from Jena and helped bring it into wider horticultural circulation; later it passed through Sigurd Lock, former city gardener of Linz, and eventually to the nursery of Sarastro. 

• Hardiness: H5 — -15 to -10°C
• Height: 20–30 cm
• Spread: 30–40 cm
• Flowers: June–July
• Flower colour: Sky blue to violet-blue
• Foliage: Evergreen
• Range of parents: Northern Albania/Montenegro and southern Turkey
• Parentage: Wulfenia baldaccii × W. orientalis
• Introduced: Jena, former East Germany
• Named: Lothar Lepper, 1970
• Use: Shaded rock garden, alpine trough, woodland edge