Ligularia przewalskii

Ligularia is probably too beautiful to worry about its common name. There are so many of them such as leopard plant, golden groundsel, rayflower, even tractor seat, and still mostly everybody call it ligularia. There are about 150 species in the genus which mostly come from Central and East Asia. They are valued for large leaves and attractive yellow, golden, or orange flowers. Since they are water loving plants they thrive in a bog garden or near streams and ponds where the ground never dries out.

Przewalski’s golden ray is a spectacular perennial growing almost 2m tall in bloom. It bears dark purple red stems with long spikes of rich golden yellow flowers with narrow petals. They are produced from late June until August. Even without flowers the plant is highly attractive for its foliage. The leaves are large, 20-25 cm across, mid green, and variable in shape - mostly deeply dissected, sometimes shallowly lobed, and sometimes triangular to kidney-shaped with toothed margins.

Ligularia loves constantly moist to wet sites where it thrives even in full sun. In a border which might occasionally dry out it needs some protection during the hottest hours of the day otherwise it may wilt easily. It likes deep, medium fertile soil of any pH. For shorter species provide some protection from slugs and snails which love its newly emerging leaves. Fully hardy to about -40°C (USDA zone 3).

Last update 01-01-2020