You and your LIGULARIA

I am looking for shade plants that have some snap in terms of flower colour (and yellow is so 'snappy' in the shade). I am thinking "Ligularia" but because space is a bit at a premium I am searching out the more compact versions of this plant. I see there is "Little Rocket" and a possibly an even (slightly?) shorter offering than this called "Bottle Rocket".

Firstly for those of you with any yellow flowered "Lig" what do you think of this plant overall i.e start of flowering, duration of flowering?

And have any of you had experience with these two specific varieties? Are they noticeably less tall than other traditional "Ligs"?

This message was edited Jun 11, 2012 6:51 AM

I have what I think is Ligularia dentata---the tag said Ligularia Chocolate. It is about 2' x 2' and has daisy like yellow blooms instead of the spikes but it is a favorite of mine and is planted in dappled shade under a huge pine tree. There is one that is 12 - 18 inches on the bigdipperfarm.com website called Ligularia Last Dance that appears to be nice and compact. I have had this plant in my shade garden for several years and I love it. The butterflies love the blooms. I can't remember how long the blooms last but I don't deadhead them as the dried bloom has a funky dark shaggy look, sort of like a black eyed susan.

The leaves are fabulous as long as there is plenty of water. The flowers remind me of a Claude Monets painting . However the flowers don't last more than 1 week and look terrible when they fade. So I grow it mostly for the beautiful leaf and try to keep plenty of water on it.

Definitely need plenty of water.

Just popping in here because its winter and nothing is happening garden-wise.
I have not seen the smaller Ligs.I have Desdemona with daisy-like blooms.I also really grow it for the leaves.I have it in part sun and another plant in part shade.Both do well.They suffer from afternoon wilt in July and Aug .
My plants are really huge and are mulched in the clay soil here. Perhaps the wilt is because I dont really make a point of watering more than anything else.

Britt Marie '11

Perhaps try Doronicum, leopards bane, if for open or dappled shade. They do well for me in a fair amount of shade would probably bloom better with more sun though.

Gary