Lovely Ligularia

I must admit that it takes a lot to really thrill me as far as discovering new plants goes. After all these years of gardening I have to really hunt for a plant that sparks my imagination and this ligularia does it for me. It has various shades of green on each leaf which are about three or four inches across. Although it should bloom, I am assuming yellow flowers, it is a perennial mostly grown for its foliage.

I am most familiar with the yellow-spotted ligularia commonly called the 'Leopard Plant'. It grows in the shade garden at the Hortense Miller Garden where I am a docent and I always point out to visitors that it is not diseased, just decorated with yellow spots on the shiny, flat leaves.

I found this one with the white variegation at a little local nursery and it was not labeled. Since ligularia likes cool, damp spots, I planted it in a shady area in the moonlight garden that I am planting now and it complements the white flowers beautifully. It also works well in cut flower arrangements. I am looking forward to watching it grow.