LIGULARIA DENTATA 'OTHELLO' LEOPARD PLANT HARDY PERENNIAL SHADE PLANT WET SOIL
BUY IT NOW!!! PRICE BREAK ON QUANTITY!!!
1 ROOT * 3 ROOTS * 5 ROOTS OR 10 ROOTS
Healthy, 1 to 2 eye, bare root plants! We wet wrap our roots to ensure that they always arrive healthy and ready to plant in your garden or container!
Culture
Best grown in humusy, organically rich, medium to wet soils in part shade to full shade. Must have moist soils that never dry out. Benefits from a regular, deep watering in hot summers. Foliage will wilt in too much sun. Needs a shaded location in the St. Louis area. Site plants in areas protected from strong winds.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Ligularia dentata, commonly called
leopard plant, is native to China and Japan. It is an imposing,
clump-forming perennial that is grown in gardens as much for its foliage
as for its flowers. Its best ornamental feature may be the foliage
which consists of huge, long-stalked, leathery, rounded, cordate-based,
dark green leaves (12” or more long) that form a basal clump to 3-4’
tall. Daisy-like, orange-yellow flowers (2-3” across) with
brownish-yellow centers bloom in loose corymbs atop thick, mostly
leafless stalks that rise above the foliage in early summer. Sometimes
commonly called big leaf ligularia. Synonymous with and formerly known
as Senecio clivorum.
Genus name comes from the Latin word ligula meaning strap in reference to the shape of the ray flowers.
Specific epithet means toothed.
'Othello'
is grown as much for its dark colored foliage as for its flowers. New
leaves emerge purplish-red, but mature to brownish-green on top and
purplish beneath. Petioles, veins, flower stalks and lower leaf surfaces
of this cultivar are distinctively reddish-purple. It is very similar
to and somewhat difficult to distinguish from Ligularia dentata 'Desdemona', except it is perhaps slightly smaller and produces slightly smaller flowers.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems. Slugs and snails are often attracted to the foliage. Even with adequate soil moisture, leaf wilting may occur in hot summer climates (foliage droops in afternoons with recovery at night), particularly when the plant is exposed to too much sun.
Uses
Group or mass in moist or wet areas of shade or woodland gardens, or along streams, ponds, pools or bog gardens. Good plant for a shady area on the north side of a house. Can be grown in a shaded area of the border if the soil moisture requirements can be met. Grow with interrupted fern (Osmunda claytonia) or Japanese sedge (Carex morrowii) which share the same general cultural requirements.
