What a beautiful plant! It grows well for me in very difficult conditions, under the volunteer Norway maples that dominate one corner of ...Read Moremy yard. Looks fresh and full all season and takes on a lovely golden color in fall. It spreads, but not in a way that will alarm you. A good companion for hostas and epimedium.
There is disagreement of botanists as to this Giant Solomon's-Seal being its own species of P. commutatum or a variety of the Smooth Solo...Read Moremon's-Seal that grows larger with some different leaf vein arrangement and number of flowers per cluster. This wildflower is native to a large part of eastern and central North America. Its starchy rhizomes, underground stems, were eaten by Native Americans like potato. Like a number of other Lily Family members, deer can munch them down low. It is not supposed to be aggressive in the landscape with its spread by the rhizomes.
This perennial does well where hostas do well. Like a hosta, it's a tough easy plant that will tolerate dry shade, but it performs best i...Read Moren soil that's moist but well drained.
All the stems arch the same way. The tall arching stems and the regularly alternating leaves give a clump an architectural quality that can help unify a woodland garden if the plant is repeated through the space.
This grows from a thick branched rhizome to form a slowly increasing clump. Its growth is in no way weedlike, and the rhizomes stay within a few inches of the surface. I've grown this in many gardens and have never had any difficulty digging it out. Most easily propagated by division of the rhizome in autumn.
There are several different forms differing in size. Size also depends on the age of the clump and cultural conditions. Mature height varies from 3' to 6'.
The giant form is thought to be a tetraploid. The regular sized P. biflorum is diploid.
The saponins and cardiac glycosides present in this plant are not present in high enough concentrations to do harm. http://www.thepoisongarden.co.uk/blog/blog030512.htm The new shoots have been eaten like asparagus. The berries may be somewhat toxic.
I bought a home with lots of shade gardens. Solomon seal is lovely, but it is taking over the whole garden and is hard to dig out. I am...Read More having a hard time trying to thin it out. I live in Vancouver, B.C.
One of many wonderful native woodland plants that grow in the piedmont/mountains of the SE. I have several growing in my hardwood/mixed ...Read Moreforest preserve and they seem to especially like growing near hardwoods. A very durable and drought resistant plant. I try to add a few more every year. The birds really dig the black berries they produce.
My grandma has a bunch of these in the shady areas of her yard, and she considers them weeds. I liked the cuteness and elegance of the yo...Read Moreung specimens, so I planted a few right up next to our Siberian elm. They have stayed small for several years, but now are reaching half-size, so I'm going to have to move them. They are said to be edible when they are sprouting, like asparagus. I tasted one, and it was like sprouts.
In spite of the species denotion "biflorum", this plant can have from 2 to 10 blooms hanging from the leaf axils. The larger the plant, t...Read Morehe more flowers it produces (in my experience). Oddly, the plants in more open, sunny locations are often smaller. The big ones are in deep shade, usually smothered under poison ivy. My big ones average 5 blooms per axil. These are identified as P. canaliculatum in my Missouri Wildflowers book, but evidently, a person by the name of J. T. Kartesz lumped three previously distinct species ( Polygonatum canaliculatum, P. commutatum, and P. biflorum) into one category in 1994 (as P. biflorum). I am posting my pictures here, as a separate species, since I think there are considerable differences between the giant and the regular biflorum (which we also have here as a native).
What a beautiful plant! It grows well for me in very difficult conditions, under the volunteer Norway maples that dominate one corner of ...Read More
There is disagreement of botanists as to this Giant Solomon's-Seal being its own species of P. commutatum or a variety of the Smooth Solo...Read More
This perennial does well where hostas do well. Like a hosta, it's a tough easy plant that will tolerate dry shade, but it performs best i...Read More
I bought a home with lots of shade gardens. Solomon seal is lovely, but it is taking over the whole garden and is hard to dig out. I am...Read More
One of many wonderful native woodland plants that grow in the piedmont/mountains of the SE. I have several growing in my hardwood/mixed ...Read More
My grandma has a bunch of these in the shady areas of her yard, and she considers them weeds. I liked the cuteness and elegance of the yo...Read More
In spite of the species denotion "biflorum", this plant can have from 2 to 10 blooms hanging from the leaf axils. The larger the plant, t...Read More