Asarum delavayi ‘Giant’*: Giant Wild Ginger, Panda face ginger
As an antidote to my post about Vita Sackville-West’s macabre ‘Box of the Dead’ earlier this week, I thought I’d share a happier tale. Regular readers will know that I often purchase plants without any real idea where I am going to plant them. It’s an addiction, and one I’m not interested in overcoming. These stateless individuals have to eek out an existence in a pot until such a time as they find their promised land, or curl up and die. One such plant is Asarum delavayi ‘Giant’, purchased last year from the lovely people at Decoy Nursery in East Sussex and consigned to the cold frame in our London garden ever since.
I had good reason for not planting it in the garden immediately: at the time Mr Fox was molesting anything that I considered remotely desirable, and I could not trust the snails not to finish the job. The cold frame felt like the safest place, and there my asarum stayed, neither growing a great deal nor showing signs of distress. It just sat there, doing nothing, looking a little bit green and dishevelled, as asarums sometimes do.
Imagine my surprise when, in need of cheering up today (I have a monstrous cold, or man flu, whichever you prefer to call it), I checked the cold frame for signs of new life and was met with two giant panda faces staring back at me. At ground level the black and white flowers might have been harder to spot, but raised at chest level they were quite a spectacle. Each was about 2 inches across; the black part rich and velvety like the material used to line jewellery boxes, and the white part ridged and furrowed like snow. I know of no other flowers quite like them – they put those of Asarum splendens in the shade. Once plants are established they can produce tens of flowers each spring. New leaves, emerging now, are large, glossy, slightly mottled and a magnet for molluscs, hence a few holes here and there.
Will I give my asarum its freedom and plant it out somewhere moist and shady? Probably not. On balance it will do better where I can protect it from snails or rain splatters and enjoy those extraordinary flowers at close quarters every spring. It does, however, deserve a proper terracotta pot, rather than a nasty black plastic one.
If you’d like to give Asarum delavayi ‘Giant’ a try in your own garden, Decoy Nursery are currently offering plants by mail order. Click here for further details.
* There does appear to be some difference in the naming of this plant, with nurseries offering similar looking asarums under the name Asarum maximum ‘Ling Ling’, ‘Panda’ and ‘Silver Panda’. Both Asarum maximum and Asarum delavayi are botanical names recognised by the RHS, so perhaps they are distinct. All are just as fabulous as one another, so who cares?
Categories: Beautiful Strangers, Daily Flower Candy, Flowers, Foliage, Plants
Wow, I am sure those two beautiful flower faces made you forget your cold for a bit! I have never heard of them. They are charming! I can say I have your same affliction for buying plants rarely having a clue where they will go! It must be a disappointment for my design clients to see my over flowing menagerie of plants. I excuse myself calling it a test garden, LOL! Hope you get well soon! Cheers!
Thank you Laurin. The flowers are oddly cute aren’t they? I was just thinking today that because I write this blog I could claim that I am buying plants for research purposes. Fact is, I am buying them because I love them and can’t resist!
Hello Dan and I hope you are sitting comfortably, reading your new books and recovering. I clicked on the Decoy website and spent a bit (I am with a North facing garden). I have also posted on your plant list to ask where you bought Lyonothamnus floribundas asplenifolius because it sound just what I/the garden/needs/wants and I can only find one and that is only about 18′ tall and read that it is slow growing. I want a tree now! Thanks
Decoy have some cracking plants, don’t they? And always so well grown. Dan
divine! 👏👏👏
Sure puts my European Ginger to shame. 🙂 Beautiful. Hope you’re feeling better.
I am coughing for England at the moment Judy! Staying indoors for the rest of the day in the hopes I might be good to garden tomorrow. Fingers crossed!
What a glorious gorgeous fab plant and I love its leaves too!!!
It’s quite something isn’t it? I love these curiosities.
A nice plant. Get better soon, Dan 🙂
Thank you Paul!
What an extraordinary flower – I’m glad that I still have space for new purchases.
There is always space for one more Helen 😉
Always, Dan 😉
I love those nice surprises. That is a cracking plant.
Fun isn’t it? Not the sort of plant one stumbles across every day 🙂
Hi Dan:
I’m generally one of the silent “lurkers” but I a moved to tell you how much a enjoy and learn form your very generous postings.
Thank you Patrick. Very good to hear from you. I wish more lurkers would come out from under their covers and post comments. It’s what keeps us bloggers going 🙂
Stunning! And yes, Decoy nursery offer some real treats…
But why is this plant called “Wild Ginger”? Surely it’s not related to true gingers (Zingiber)?
No, it isn’t. But the rhizomes smell like ginger apparently. I have not experienced this myself. The joys of common names. It’s why I don’t very often use them, as they can be misleading.
Gorgeous, hope you are feeling better. Was the comma in the right place? 😉