Monday, August 24, 2015

Ligularia dentata, Elephant Ears

At this time of year we have a bright splash of orange/yellow Elephant Ears at the back of one garden patch, where it's shaded most of the day.  This is the interesting Ligularia dentata, a striking plant that does well in shade.

It has a kind of raggedy blossom, but it is a member of the Sunflower Family.  Wikipedia lists 148 horticultural varieties, and they seem to be of two main types; the other has a vertical spike of flowers.

The flower heads themsleves are fascinating in detail, and they change very quickly as they bloom.

It also has a very interesting seed head that develops out of these flowers, which I'll show you later in the fall when they develop.

This is the whole plant, with the large dark green leaves that give it its name.  They're dense enough that once these get established there's no weeding to be done under or around them.

They spread steadily, creating new plants by seed.  We started with one or two and now have 25, so I have to get rid of a bunch which I'll dig next spring and give to the plant sale.  I didn't feel guilty picking off a large leaf to show you the underside - it's a strong shade of purple, especially the veins.

In any case we have a bright patch of them at the back of the garden now, where they only get a brief bit of morning sun.  There aren't many shade-loving plants that provide this bright a bloom.

These flowers in bloom always tell me we're well into late summer and fall is about to arrive.  But they do seem early this year; last year I posted a photo on Sept. 15th.

These are the last garden photos for awhile, so I'll end with one more photo of those tall yellow Coneflowers that give the other part of our garden such a bright colour these days.  It's very hard to capture on camera compared to actually seeing it!

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25 comments:

  1. A delightful set of photos, nice!

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  2. So things are early in your part of the country, too. I'm surprised, since you started much later than we did with our uncharacteristic lack of rain with plenty of sun. Nice pictures! :-)

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  3. oh I love those, very colourful, are they annuals?

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  4. They add so much colour to the garden.

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  5. I love Ligularia, but have never had any luck growing it.

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  6. Love the bright yellow petals! These flowers remind me of the balsamroot that blooms during spring in the Gorge.

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  7. Gorgeous flowers and images. Happy Monday!

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  8. I like the look of them! I'd be hard pressed to identify flowers!

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  9. This is a nice plant. I don't think I've ever seen one of these in person.

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  10. Love the shots of your garden flowers.

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  11. Love the shots of your beautiful gardens! These tall yellow beauties are amazing. My garden is now full of black-eyed Susans which are a welcome sight at the end of summer :)

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  12. Bright and cheerful addition to the garden!
    Nice find and lovely photos!
    Have a Beautiful Week!
    Peace :)

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  13. What a name for the beautiful flower.

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  14. Beautiful garden with colorful flowers...

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  15. Such beautiful flowers on that Elephant Ears plant.! I ahve a lot of shad ein my front garden so I will see if this plant will grow in my climate.

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  16. An interesting plant. I rather like the leaves too.

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  17. A real beauty!
    Have a great day!
    Lea

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  18. Interesting plant and very pretty. I like the idea that no weeds grow under it. I might have to get some of these for my garden.

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  19. You have a beautiful garden. When we were in Victoria recently, I saw and photographed these types of flowers. Thanks for the ID of them. Very pretty blooms.

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  20. seems these lovely flowers have the sun in their color, a beautiful gold.
    thank you for sharing about them.

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  21. Beautiful nature shots. P.S. Today I posted 'The Rest of the Story' about my Milky Way shot.

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  22. Regular rain this summer and the elephants ears have been bigger even than normal....

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  23. It's all so lovely. I can only imagine how wonderful it must be in person.

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  24. I like that ligularia plant. It sure is profuse as are the coneflowers.

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  25. Fabulous photos of these gorgeous flowers. Yellow is such a cheerful colour.

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