I would just plant and keep my fingers crossed.

I'd soak it for a half day to rehydrate before planting. Yeah, epimediums don't need much water but that guy's desicated.

I think I'd really water for a bit longer, water it loads more, and not plant it until it looked happier. I'd plant it on a cool, drizzly day. And then cutoff what didn't live, once it was up and going again. But that's just me.

I've had it sitting in a bowl of water since yesterday, though sadly, more leaves have shriveled. I guess all I can do at this point is plant it (on a cool, drizzly day - Thanks Rob) and cross my fingers.

I grow a lot of epimediums and while I haven't had this issue before, just to encourage you, epimediums are pretty hard to kill. I definitely would not remove any foliage. It needs all the help it can get to recover. I would plant it just as it is, water it in well and cover it with a milk crate or similar to shade it for even as long as a week. It can't tolerate any more stress at this point. I also would not allow it to sit in water for longer than 30-60 mins. Better to plant it out and water well.

I mean you could take your chances and just plant it, water it in and forget it and it could recover fine, but I don't know if the leaves will actually look better. It may be that you will save the roots and it will grow new leaves? Once you can see recovery of the plant, then you can go back and remove some of the worst foliage if it looks dead, but I wouldn't remove more than 1/3 of them.

I am not an expert and these are not 'rules to follow', just what I would do if it were me. For all I know, there is a better way to do it. [g] I do have very good luck in planting out, so I couldn't be that far off. I mean I don't lose many plants.

I dug a few epimedium out to move once and left one sitting on top of a compost pile and forgot about it and came back a month later and it lived! Very surprised. But it had been sitting under the dripline of a tree, but still.

Good luck! I hope you will let us know how it works out. 😀

I also think they’re pretty tough. Unless your car got to 180 degrees & it’s actually baked.

If you had targeted it for a high-profile location, maybe you want to put it in a secondary spot, just in case it does die, especially if you would be ok going to get any now. You likely just have to care for it, don’t fret if it drops leaves, don’t cut on it this summer, and see what happens next spring.

I have so many places I’d like to put epimediums but am limited by availability and my ability to dig more holes. And cost, especially insofar as they’re relatively expensive, only this year found any locally, and I’m putting them in tough environments so always worry things will not make it after all that.

But it have to be really most sincerely dead for me to give up on it.

I thought it was in a container. If it's not a container, it can't wait. So the crate over it, that's exactly what I would do (actually, I've used a chair with a blanket over it).

Is it in a container?

Rob, yes. It is still in the pot that the nursery had it in.

Marmie, no. I did not plan to put it in a prominent place. I am working on filling in spaces between my hostas in my back garden. Pretty much no one sees them except me. But I did have visions of a gorgeous plant by summer. We'll see.

And PrairieMoon, I took it out of the bowl of water the minute I saw your recommendation - even before finishing your message!

Whew. So just wait a bit. Since it's in a container, it can wait. For that cool, misty day. Coming in the next week. I'm sure of it. 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻