My experience is that they need quite a bit of water. They wilt terribly on hot humid days, even in heavy shade. They do perk right up with watering or when the sun starts going down. Look fine in the morning again.

I planted for the foliage mostly, they are striking. So if your woods garden is near thirsty trees, you may want to run a drip system or plan to put a sprinkler on the bed, so the shade plants get enough water along with the tree roots.

If you are successfully growing tiarellas there, it is unlikely to be the best spot for Ligularias. przewalskii and the Rocket, as was mentioned, need constant moisture, like at the edge of a stream or swamp. If it is dry those two will stay small if they grow at all.

On the other hand, I've had good luck with Osiris Fantasie and Desdemona (and Britt Marie Crawford and Little Lantern) in other parts of the garden where the Tiarella were also happy. So I would stick with one of those instead of the others.

Hope that helps.

Chris

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Pardon the photo, but I had a really bad gardening year in 2009. If you look to the immediate right of the white downspout, you will see the Rocket setting up it's bloom spikes. Despite apearances, Rocket gets no supplemental watering - the downspout for the gutters goes underground and out to the ditch which is 60 feet from the house.

The only time it sulks by drooping it's leaves is when the sun hits it directly from 10am to noonish. Other than that the leaves look fine. The soil here has been amended with my own compost for 5 years, but again, I do not water this area, so in my experience, the Rocket does not need to be next to a constant water source.

I did try Othello a few years back but the slugs seem to really enjoy it's leaves. For some reason they don't touch the Rocket.

I see you are in a zone 4 so it may be a good choice for you.

Thanks for the replies

I plan on experimenting with the Przewalski/Rocket - as in planting them lower/digging in large plastic containers with bottom removed etc. The area is at the bottom of a downslope and I can augment the watering if needed. Good to know about the Desdemona. I am intrigued by the Osiris Cafe Noir but was told that it has a very short flowering season. Plans right now are to spot Filipendula "Aurea" for foliage color, maybe Rodgersi and Cimicifuga for later bloom.

I'd recommend the Aurea for shade - really brightens it up.

Good to know about the Tiarella - I'll probably raise the front row.

Also Brunera "Looking Glass", possibly Coleus. That would come later as the bed develops. I learned the hard way that too many different plants make for too many regrets.

I have rocket on the N side of my home in mostly shade. It has been there 5 yrs or so and does not seem to have a wilt problem. We get 40 inches of rain a yr. It also gets roof run off.

I also moved a division it to the West side of my home and put it in a wet spot. It gets a few hrs of full sun before getting shaded by a tree. Becasue it is in a wet spot ( where my gutter drains) it does fine here too. Britt Marie Crawford is also next to it and it does fine. Britt Marie was not happy on the shadier N side of my house.

The downside of rocket is the slugs or something eat the leaves after it blooms and it looks narly the rest of the summer. The britt Marie is a fuss pot, slow growing, but much prettier foliage and much uglier flowers.

I have pics of both in an album called foliage or big foliage
the link is on my member page here.

Karen

I have this overpowering yen for a Thalictrum "Splendide", Rocket combo. But I'm chicken so I'm ordering a one gallon Splendide that I'll split and see how it does.

Google Splendide if you will, it's a monster.

boday,
I'll be interested in how you like that combination. I find thalictrum's color to more lavender than purple, and in my imagination "the Rocket' may be too strong a yellow.

Hey, try it and report back.
Take a picture and post it.

idabean

boday,

I started a thread on Ligularia last August. I don't know how to reference it here but I was able to call it up in search. I have two plants given to me in summer 2007, bloomed spectacularly for the first time last August. Probably Othello or Desdemona--daisy flowered. Blooms were attractive from the time their wine colored covered
buds appeared until long after the blooms had begun to dry.
They did not get extra water but are in pretty full shade.
I was so impressed with foliage and flower that I cleaned
up the shaggy bed they were in and added several new heucheras in front of them and some wine colored ajuga divisions where things move off into the woods. Flower
stems attractive for a full month!

Chris

I have a few different Ligularias and they do like water, but not so much that they require a bog.
Mine are in mostly morning sun, afternoon shade conditions....I don't have a problem with them wilting.
The Rocket
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Britt Marie-Crawford
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Desdemona
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Like how the yellows combine with the blue of aconitium, the purple foliage with yellow bleeding heart.
Lots of options....
Flora