| Where the garden meets the wild | ||
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ASARUM & HEXASTYLIS WILD GINGER Aristolochiaceae (Birthwort family) 细辛属 |
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Asarum caudatum at Fillongley, Denman Island, BC. Photograph © Dorrie Woodward |
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Wild gingers make wonderful groundcovers in dappled shade. Because
their remarkable flowers bloom beneath their leaves, connoisseurs also
value them as pot plants which can be raised to eye level.
These gingers are not related to the gingers used in Asian cuisine. Their rhizomes are edible, however, and have the same mind-clearing, gingery aroma. The flowers are pollinated mainly by gnats. As the seeds ripen, ants often grab them because of their elaiosome ~ a detachable lump of concentrated nutrition ~ and carry them home to their tunnels, in effect planting them. Some people say they can't grow ginger because slugs devour it. We find that iron phosphate slug bait keep the predators at bay. Most slug baits contain metaldehyde, which is toxic not just to slugs but to humans and other animals, including dogs and cats. Iron phosphate is toxic only to slugs and snails. It is available under brand names like Sluggo and Escar-go. |
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Photograph © Pat Woodward
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Asarum caudatum
Lindley. Western wild ginger. Caudatum means
"tailed," a reference to the long appendages on the flower. This
is a handsome deciduous groundcover with heart-shaped, leathery leaves.
Given water and part shade, it quickly spreads by both rhizomes
and seeds. The rhizomes grow sideways, shallowly or even on the
surface. With us
there are flowers in spring and often again in summer. This ginger is
native to the understorey in conifer forests in much of far western North
America. It is alleged to require damp and shady humus, but stray
seedlings form robust colonies in glaring sun in our rock garden and paths. Zone 6.
Pot (10 cm / 4") or equivalent rhizome, depending on season. $4.00 |
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Photographs © Paige Woodward |
Asarum delavayi Franchet.
川滇细辛 Chuan
dian xi xin (Chinese). The leaves, up to 8 cm
(3") long and flushed purple on the underside, start out grass green
and mature to racing green with a pewter cast and occasional silver
blotches. They are practically evergreen, renewing themselves in early
spring. The campanulate flowers are produced on long horizontal stems in
spring-summer. Native to damp, shady spots in montane forests in China's
SW Sichuan and NE Yunnan provinces. Thrives here in perpetually filtered
shade. Height 10-15 cm (4-6"). Zone 6.
Pot (10 cm / 4") or equivalent rhizome, depending on season. $12.00 |
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Photograph © Pat Woodward
Scanned image © Paige Woodward |
Asarum marmoratum
Piper.
Marbled western wild ginger. Before 2003 we offered this beauty as Asarum
hartwegii, its very close kin. Both species have dark green,
heart-shaped, leathery
leaves mottled with silver along the veins. Both are clump-forming and
their roots go deep. But
the flower of A. marmoratum has pale sepals above a calyx tube
lined with maroon, while A. hartwegii has reddish sepals above a
calyx tube lined with maroon-striped tan. A. marmoratum is
native to a small area on the Oregon-California border. Our plants descend
from seeds collected by Phyllis Gustafson in the Siskiyou Mountains, on
the Oregon side, in 1997. Zone 5.
Pot (6 cm / 2.5") or equivalent root, depending on season. $7.00 |
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Photographs © Paige Woodward |
Asarum
sieboldii Miquel. Siebold's ginger. 汉城细辛
Han chen xi xin (Chinese);
ウスバサイシン
Usubasaishin (Japanese). Sometimes
called Asiasarum sieboldii.. The heart-shaped leaves are
similar to those of A. caudatum and A. canadense. The
flowers, however, are thimble-shaped with maroon, white and green
markings. This ginger and the two just
mentioned make wonderful groundcovers. The main attraction of this species is that it is super-hardy. Above you see it emerging in February.
Below you see it blooming in mid-March. It is native to NE Liaoning province
in China and to the northern Korean Peninsula.
Pot (10 cm / 4") or equivalent rhizome, depending on season. $8.00 |
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Photographs © Stowe Keller |
Hexastylis
virginica
(Linnaeus) Small. Virginia heartleaf.
Evergreen wild ginger. Also called Asarum memmingeri.
The heart-shaped, evergreen leaves resemble those of Asarum
caudatum. The flower is tub-shaped, however, and sometimes the
leaves are mottled, usually in the reverse pattern of A.
marmoratum ~ that is, the centre and veins are dark. The leaves in
our bottom picture are very young; when mature they will be darker and
much larger. Native to
damp shade in deciduous and mixed forests in the mideastern United
States: Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee and the
Virginias. Zone 5-6.
Not available this season. |
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| This page was updated Sept. 10, 2006 | ||
