We were thrilled this week, to find that one of our native wild gingers, Asarum finzelii has produced a plethora of garden seedlings this year. This species from Northeastern Alabama, was only recently described in 2020 by Alabama botanist Brian Keener, who happens to be a speaker for our 2026 Southeastern Plant Symposium in early
Here are more wild gingers flowering this week in our garden collection. This fascinating genus is a member of the pipewort family, Aristolochiaceae. All of the images below are clump forming species. Asarum asaroides ‘Dohmu’ is a yellow-flowerd form of a typically purple-flowered Japanese species. Asarum campaniflorum ‘Ginormous’ is our selection of the beautiful Chinese
Wild Ginger Flowers – Part 2 Read More »
Late winter is peak season for our large collection of wild gingers, of the genus, Asarum. Below are a few from this week. The Chinese Asarum forbesii is typically deciduous, although we have a couple of clones, which retain a good percentage of their foliage, which we remove this time of year, for better flower
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The genus Asarum are primarily late winter flowering woodland perennials in the pipevine (Aristolochiaceae) family, that have long been a focus of our collection efforts. Asarum includes the former genus, Hexastylis, that Southeast US botanists still struggle emotionally to give up. We trim the previous years foliage away as the flowers emerge, so we can
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Flowering now in the garden is the Japanese wild ginger, Asarum fudsinoi. The glossy foliage on this 15″ wide clumper makes it one of the largest of the Japanese native Asarum species. Because of its tropical roots from the Southern Ryukyu Island, Amami-Oshimi (just south of Okinawa), it’s used to flowering quite early in the
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Two of the later flowering wild gingers are looking amazing this week. At top is the Alabama native Asarum speciosum ‘Bloodshot Eyes’, a 2020 Plant Delights/JLBG introduction of a 2011 collection in Autauga County, Alabama with larger than normal flowers. At the bottom is the Japanese native Asarum sakawanum var. stellatum with it’s starfish-like flowers
One of the wild gingers that consistently sails through our winters without a blemish is the shockingly hardy, Asarum crassum. Asarum crassum is endemic to two small uninhabited islands off the south coast of Japan, Ucchima and Ujimukaeshima. Where they grow in the wild, the temperature never freezes, so, why are they so winter hardy? The
Winter is a a great season for wild gingers, since this is the peak flowering season for many species. The heaviest flowering of all species is the Chinese Asarum ichangense. Native plant enthusiasts know these as Hexastylis, even though DNA studies continue to show that this old genus is nothing more than a North American
Ginger is ready for sex Read More »
Starting off the new year is our flowering clump of the Taiwanese endemic wild ginger, Asarum hypogynum. The huge, glossy, evergreen patterned foliage is enough reason to grow this gem, but through most of the winter, the incredible floral display silently sits virtually unnoticed by most human visitors. JLBG currently houses one of the largest
One of the newest discovered species of our native asarum (formerly Hexastylis) is Asarum finzelii, from northeastern Alabama. In foliage, the plant resembles both Asarum arifolium and Asarum speciosum. The flowers, however, are quite different from both, as you can see below. It is our hope to get this propagated before too long, so we
