In the wild, liverworts prefer to grow on calcareous soils in sparse deciduous forests, where they can form entire carpets over the decades. If you want to enjoy the bluish-violet flowers in your own garden, you should imitate the natural locations as closely as possible.

Hepatica should be planted in a shady spot

Where can you get suitable plants for the garden?

Since liverworts are sensitive to disturbances and are very slow in growth and reproduction, they are under nature protection in Germany. However, many perennial nurseries offer offspring of the bluish-violet wild variety and also other color variants. When cultivating from seeds, it should be noted that liverworts germinate in the light and in the cold. If the first plants have already grown well in the garden, self-seeding is preferable to dividing the sensitive plants. This is usually supported by the dispersal work of ants called myrmecochory.

Which location is optimal for the liverwort?

To ensure even moisture without drying out the top layer of soil, liverworts should also be planted in the garden in as half-shade to shade as possible. In addition, the slow-growing liverworts are less harassed by competing plants. Locations under deciduous trees should be preferred to locations under conifers, as the latter can change a garden soil to an acidic pH value over time.

When are liverworts planted?

It is possible to transplant liverworts as gently as possible in autumn, since the sensitive roots dry out less severely. If liverworts are transplanted during the flowering period, the flowers should be removed in favor of the plants' energy balance.

How are liverworts propagated?

Since it takes quite a long time for older hepatica plants to recover from division after division, self-seeding propagation is preferable. In a suitable location, ants ensure that they spread accordingly, since the nature of the seeds makes them attractive to the ants as food.

What should the ideal substrate for liverworts be like?

Hepaticas prefer a humus-rich and evenly moist, but not waterlogged, substrate. You can loosen up heavy and loamy soil with compost. Instead of fertilizer you can use garden lime (€9.70) to create optimal conditions for the frugal and lime-loving liverworts.

tips and tricks

Children should not touch or pick the flowers of the liverworts, as they, like the leaves, are poisonous. The contained protoanemonin can lead to the following effects in humans:

  • skin irritation
  • gastroenteritis
  • kidney inflammation

Correctly dosed, components of the liverworts are used as a decoction, tincture or wine against impairments of the liver, bile and kidneys.

Category:

Herbs