I’ve always loved the genus Mukdenia, since first spying it cliffside on a 1997 botanical expedition through South Korea. This monotypic genus currently belongs is the Saxifragaceae family…think Tiarella, Heuchera, and Astilbe. Although, it’s typically grown as a woodland plant, we tried one clump of Mukdenia rossii ‘Karasuba’ in our full sun crevice garden, planted in 2017, where it’s thrived, adjacent to our manmade seep. As you can see, it’s in full flower in late March.
After struggling to grow this plant in the woodland or even the edge of woodland conditions, in May 2025, I visited a garden in Memphis which had a giant clump of Mukdenia in full sun, thriving in the Memphis heat and humidity. Once I moved mine into sunnier conditions, the improvement in growth was immediate. The clumps in Memphis were stunning, but this plant is so infrequently used that only a couple of us even knew what we were seeing to fully appreciate what was going on!
I came across a Mukdenia late spring last year and was so taken with that I paid what I thought was too much for it. It took me a while to find a home for it and it seemed to die upon transplantation, but low, it was merely hibernating and seems to have come back with some vigor this spring. Leaves are all green so far but I look forward to it developing some red as the season progresses.