Friday Foliage: Aralia cordata 'Sun King'

Please help me welcome one of the newest additions to my garden: 'Sun King' Aralia!



I have a confession to make: this isn’t my first try with this plant. The first one I got from Asiatica Nursery (now closed) and I let it dry out too much before I could even get it in the ground. I purchased this one at the Flower Factory this spring. They seem to be the only local source so far, and I was pleasantly surprised to find it.

This variety was discovered as an ornamental cultivar in Japan, and it’s still pretty new to the trade here in the US. Aralia cordata is a relatively hardy plant to zone 4, so I believe that this should have no problem with winter hardiness. I’m exited about it because it has the potential to grow pretty large… the straight species is downright huge, getting up to eight feet tall and wide (or more?!?). The jury’s out as to how large Sun King will get… one commercial grower’s claiming only 3 by 3 feet, others think it will get big like the wild variety.

The best feature of this plant is the bold, gold foliage that’s lighting up a dark space under my oak trees. I planted it next to Aralia racemosa, which is Sun King’s slightly smaller American cousin.

A welcome surprise!

I was truly exited when I came home today to find this:

Galearis spectabilis

My Showy Orchis are blooming! This is a lovely native orchid that I got from a co-worker/friend. It seeds around her yard, and she gave me a generous chunk of it a couple of years ago. I traded it for another native orchid that grows in my yard: Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera pubescens).

After I received them, I gently pulled them apart into three pieces and planted them here and there in my "Oak Grove" garden, which has sandy soil amended with compost, and oak leaf/pine needle mold. This particular clump started out with three "noses", or three growing points. Now, just a few years later, it's up to around ten! I'm considering dividing this clump either this fall or the next... no, don't raise your hand just yet, I don't feel I have enough to share/trade/sell quite yet. You'll be the first to know when I do!

Close-up

Helleborus 'Birkin's Black'

I have several hellebores in my garden, but so far this is my favorite. I like it for several reasons: one, it's not a variety that's easy to find; two, my friend (Shady Character) gave it to me; three, it's got black flowers; and four, it has interesting divided foliage that suggests H. foetidus parentage. 'Birkin's Black' is not really an official name (it doesn't have one). That's just what my friend calls it because it was bred by Graham Birkin, a hellebore breeder in England. Of my 3 small divisions, this one has the most flowers. I'm considering under planting it with a lighter-colored companion to make its dark flowers and dark green foliage stand out.

Of my other hellebores, only 2 are named, and one of those names escapes me at the moment. I have an 'Onyx Odyssey' in the chocolate garden, a pink-flowered variety from another friend's garden, 2 seedlings from Sunshine Farm and Gardens (bred by Barry Glick), and a new pink-flowered one with a name that I acquired from work this winter.

Hellebores are great plants. They're more or less evergreen, so they provide a long season of interest. Even when the flowers fade, the colorful bracts remain and look like faded flowers themselves for months. They thrive in the deep shade of my oak trees. On top of that, they're drought tolerant, which makes them my kind of plant.

The pink hellebore. Ok, maybe it's more mauve.