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If large imposing perennials are your thing, then you must grow Ligularia. Few garden perennials offer such decorative foliage and striking flower displays. For the back of the border, they are second to none! As long as they have steady access to soil moisture, Ligularia will provide you with the ultimate plant for Big, Bold and Beautiful!
As gardeners we are always on the lookout for that plant that will create an impact in the garden. Tall plants with showy flowers and large leaves fit the bill quite nicely and one of the best plant group that encompasses this description are the Ligularia.
There are some 150 species in the genus Ligularia, most native to the Himalayan region, China and Japan. Only a small handful are known in cultivation and these generally are quite large plants with bold spikes or sprays of brilliant yellow to orange flowers. In the wild, they grow in damp meadows and along streamsides, so the key to success is even moisture. No plant is quicker than Ligularia in letting you know when it needs water. With the slightest drought, the leaves quickly wilt. To grow these plants to perfection choose a fertile, moist spot in the garden; they can even withstand boggy soil. They are ideal for planting behind a water feature. Full sun will result in the sturdiest plants but they can tolerate part-shade. The only problem with Ligularia is the fact that they are slug fodder! Their large, fleshy leaves are a slug favourite treat, so unless you have a strict regime for slug control, be content to have a few holes in the leaves of these plants.
Among the popular ornamental Ligularia there are three main trends in their flower presentation; tall narrow spikes; elongated cone-shaped spikes or flat-topped clusters. Ligularia are members of the Aster Family, Asteraceae, so the individual flowers are very daisy-like. The blooming period is mid to late summer. The leaves may be rounded or triangular in outline, with or without serrated margins.
Perhaps the tallest and most popular Ligularia is L. stenocephala "The Rocket. This selection can tower to over 2 m making it an imposing plant! The leaves are deep green, triangular in shape with irregularly tooth margins. The flowering stems are dark purple and contrast beautifully with the narrow yellow spikes. Individual flowers are small but several hundreds are produced per spike. Looking very similar is L. przewalskii whose leaves are more jaggedly toothed than ‘The Rocket' (and I think more attractive). The hybrid ‘Zepter' is another look-alike but has huge, lightly-toothed leaves. The species L. wilsoniana produces a narrow spike but has more rounded, shallowly-toothed leaves. If space is a consideration, you can try the newest cultivar called ‘Little Rocket' that tops at 1.2 m.
Among the most popular of the flat-topped Ligularia is L. dentata. There are several named cultivars. All have large, rounded, somewhat cupped leaves at the end of long stalks and stout flower stems that rise to 1.2 m. They have large clearly daisy-like flowers that are golden-yellow to bright orange.'Othello' is perhaps the most popular. It has gorgeous dark purple leaves which contrast strongly with the orange-yellow flowers. Other look-alike cultivars include ‘Dark Beauty' and ‘Britt-Marie Crawford'. ‘Desdemona' is quite similar but its leaves are not as dark. ‘Sommergold' is a green-leaved cultivar. Ligularia X palmatiloba has rounded leaves that are elegantly jaggedly toothed and incised. Their flowers are similar to L. dentata but bright yellow.
Among those Ligularia with shorter, more cone-shaped spikes is L. veitchiana. This species has rounded leaves with slightly puckered edges. ‘Gregynog Gold' is a hybrid between the flat-topped L. dentata and L. veitchiana. Their flowers are also held in a more cone-shaped arrangement. Their leaves are also round and the individual flowers relatively large and golden-yellow. ‘Sungold' is another look-alike. The hybrid called L. X hessei (dentata X wilsoniana) is quite similar. There are two shorter species with cone-shaped flower clusters: L. calthifolia and L. fischeri. These both have rounded, thick-textured leaves and only reach a little over 1 m.
Some other Ligularia species/selections include L. palmatiloba, P. przwalskii, L. dentata 'Desdemona' and L. dentata 'Britt-Marie Crawford'
One last species which must be mentioned is L. tangutica. I have not grown or seen this one other than in pictures. The leaves are deeply divided, looking almost like a cut-leaved elder! The individual yellow flowers are tiny but are produced in a large plume-like spray. It must be one of the most distinct Ligularia and among the most beautiful and elegant.
For a focal point in a garden, it's hard to beat Ligularia. Even without flowers, its foliage is quite impressive. If diligent with slug control and proving enough water, you can be rewarded with healthy Ligularia, the ultimate plant for being big, bold and beautiful!
I would like to thank doss, hczone6, kell and mrporl for the use of their lovely pictures which helped complete this article.
About Todd Boland
I reside in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. I work as a research horticulturist at the Memorial University of Newfoundland Botanical Garden. I am one of the founding members of the Newfoundland Wildflower Society and the current chair of the Newfoundland Rock Garden Society. My garden is quite small but I pack it tight! Outdoors I grow mostly alpines, bulbs and ericaceous shrubs. Indoors, my passion is orchids. When not in the garden, I'm out bird watching, a hobby that has gotten me to some lovely parts of the world.
Posted by heather2 (from Goulds,Newfoundland.
(Canada)) on June 9, 2008 at 6:15 PM:
I bought this plant called The Rocket and it was beautiful the first year. The following year I got nothing. Don't know what happened. Wondering if I should bother again?
...
Posted by Todd_Boland (from St. John's, NL) on June 9, 2008 at 7:36 PM:
I have had the Rocket for 15 years with no problems...I think you should give it another try. Don't let it get too dry.
...
Subject: dividing calla lilies
Posted by kirchoffer (from Portland, OR) on April 28, 2008 at 1:40 PM:
I was told to wait until my large calla lily died down in winter, in Portland, Oregon, before dividing. However, the plant continued putting out new shoots through the winter and is now once again in full growth and likely to take over the entire bed.
Can I, even at this late stage, shear off some of the growth in the back and on the sides of this plant?
Thanks for your advice.
...
Posted by Todd_Boland (from St. John's, NL) on April 28, 2008 at 2:12 PM:
I have not grown Calla myslef so I'm not really in a position to answer that question. I would think late winter would be better, prior to full growth.
...
Posted by kirchoffer (from Portland, OR) on May 5, 2008 at 1:13 PM:
Thanks. This is what I was told.
...
Subject: purple loosestrife
Posted by suzi_gardener (from Clinton
(Canada)) on April 28, 2008 at 10:34 AM:
The Ligularia family includes the dreaded purple loosestrife that is choking the swamps and wetlands of Ontario. It is especially noticeable just west of Ottawa. This plant crowds out native plants and takes over the wetlands. Currently it has no known native predators. Some botanists believe that any Ligularia should be banned from North America. Having seen the wide spread of purple loosestrife I can see why they would think that way. We have been told that the yellow loosestrife is not as bad at spreading but I, ffor one, will not take the chance. I will not grow any form of loosestrife in my garden.
...
Posted by Todd_Boland (from St. John's, NL) on April 28, 2008 at 2:10 PM:
Actually Ligularia is a member of the daisy family, Asteraceae. Purple loosestrife is a part of the Lythraceae family...the two plants are not even closely related. I'm not sure where you got your information, but I'm afraid it is not too accurate. Purple loosestrife is becoming a pest in Newfoundland as well.
...
Subject: Ahhh Yes !!
Posted by Debsroots (from Northwest, MO) on April 24, 2008 at 9:55 AM:
I have a couple of these, but need to put them closer to my pond. I didn't realize they liked water that well. The deer also seem to enjoy them :)
Excellent article
...
Posted by wannadanc (from Olympia, WA) on April 24, 2008 at 11:36 AM:
I have found that they do an instant "wilt" when sun touches them, but come right back as soon as shade returns - so I am surprised at the commentary that sun makes them stronger. Hmmmmmm. Nice article - thank you!
...
Posted by Todd_Boland (from St. John's, NL) on April 24, 2008 at 4:43 PM:
Stronger in the sun IF they are consistently moist! Any sign of drought and they will certainly wilt.
...
Posted by doss (from Stanford, CA) on April 24, 2008 at 6:28 PM:
Nice article Todd! Mine are quite happy in the shade.
...
Posted by Todd_Boland (from St. John's, NL) on April 24, 2008 at 7:59 PM:
I guess sun is relative then...I grow mine in as much sun as I can, but then I'm 1000 miles further north than California!
...
Posted by MsKatt (from Mid-Michigan, MI) on April 24, 2008 at 8:02 PM:
WOW. I *just* looked at these at my local nursery and was trying to think of a good spot for them. I have lots of moist, deep shade. I also have wooded area that gets lots of sun at the edge, it stays quite moist. I think I may have to plant these along the edge.
Thanks for a great article. :)
Michelle in Michigan
...
Posted by frogsrus (from San Diego, CA) on April 24, 2008 at 9:34 PM:
Great article! I love these plants. Gigantea in San Diego is certainly not a sun lover but happily resides under the brugs. It waits until the cool of the fall to bloom. The leaves make great molds for birdbaths. Some of the smaller varieties can take more of our sunny California weather. One must have a few plants that are not xeriscape.
...
Posted by wannadanc (from Olympia, WA) on April 25, 2008 at 1:54 PM:
I second the comment about the leaves making great molds - been there, done many!!!!
...
Posted by aguy1947 (from Portugal Cove-St. Ph, NL) on April 28, 2008 at 6:45 AM:
I have the one with the name that is impossible to pronounce on the spur of the moment.....(Przewalskii) grown some years ago from seed. It is near a Crambe cordifolia which is even worse for attracting slugs/snails. While I have used slug bait, I usually end up collecting all the snails I see at some point, and repeat the procedure the next day for the ones that I missed, followed with a light spray on the ground of a water/ammonia mix to suppress the young. I find my Ligularia handsome, and prefer this one to the one with the rounded leaves (dentata). (Zone 5a here)
...
Posted by MsKatt (from Mid-Michigan, MI) on April 28, 2008 at 8:51 AM:
(Przewalskii) = "shuh-wall-ski"
I live in a large Polish area :)
Michelle in Michigan
...
Posted by kmm44 (from Dayton, OH) on April 29, 2008 at 8:13 PM:
I have had "Othello" since '99 when my husband put in a shade bed along the neighbors fence. My neighbor, Diana, and her mother-in-law (who had moved into our area after her husband died) planted the latter's lifetime collection of woodland wildflowers and added to the collection over the years. Diana was thinning out her plants while we were working on the bed and tossed over the fence more than a dozen woodland shade plants to get us started.
Diana also had a bog garden in the upper corner, next to my corner and suggested a ligularia as the centerpiece. sSe didn't have an extra one, so I bought one and created the bed around it. I have ostrich ferns as a backdrop in a semi-circle, the ligularia in the center and initially had a border of tuberous begonias. I also have forget-me-nots in the border.
It looked great and the semi-boggy soil is perfect for the ligularia. I hardly ever have to water it.
At our lake house, an hour N., I planted a ligularia in a front shade bed. 4 years ago the Bradford pear tree that provided the shade came down for no apparent reason. Part of it had fallen down the year before and then all but one section fell. (I found out much too late they do that if you don't thin them out regularly so they don't get top-heavy.)
Anyway, we didn't get back there for a few days and by then the tree company had come out to clean up the mess and take the rest of the tree out. Yikes! I spent two days moving plants to the back shade bed and moving things from there to other beds to make room. The ligularia, ferns, soloman's seal, and several others needed to be moved ASAP. They have done well, but I need to water the ligularia a lot because it's not in a bog, lol. It's a built-in rain gauge, telling me right away if it rained while we were gone. I love it because it blooms in late summer when everything else is fading.
This is a good example of being careful what you wish for. I had been saying for years that I wish I had more sunny garden space and BOOM! My subsequent sunny garden in the former shade area is a joy. Most of the plants I brought from home so it didn't cost a furtune.
I created new beds last year when the old shrubs around our patio here were removed. I found a baby "othello" and moved it to one of the new beds. It looks great and I am looking forward to it's first blooms in Aug.
I would like to find a Rocket ligularia sometime, but haven't seen any locally.
there are three main trends in their flower presentation; tall narrow spikes; elongated cone-shaped spikes or flat-topped clusters. Ligularia are members of the Aster Family, Asteraceae, so the individual flowers are very daisy-like. The blooming period is mid to late summer. The leaves may be rounded or triangular in outline, with or without serrated margins. 
e produced per spike. Looking very similar is L. przewalskii whose leaves are more jaggedly toothed than ‘The Rocket' (and I think more attract
ive). The hybrid ‘Zepter' is another look-alike but has huge, lightly-toothed leaves. The species L. wilsoniana produces a narrow spike but has more rounded, shallowly-toothed leaves. If space is a consideration, you can try the newest cultivar called ‘Little Rocket' that tops at 1.2 m.
at the end of long stalks and stout flower stems that rise to 1.2 m. They have large clearly daisy-like flowers that are golden-yellow to bright orange.'Othello' is perhaps the most popular. It has gorgeous dark purple leaves which contrast strongly with the orange-yellow flowers. Other look-alike cultivars include ‘Dark Beauty' and ‘Britt-Marie Crawford'. ‘Desdemona' is quite similar but its leaves are not as dark. ‘Sommergold' is a green-leaved cultivar. Ligularia X palmatiloba has rounded leaves that are elegantly jaggedly toothed and incised. Their flowers are similar to L. dentata but bright yellow. 
