Aralia cordata is very manageable. While it gets quite big in my climate (6'x6'), it does not spread aggressively. And if it should, both the white tubers and the young foliage are highly edible :-) This is cultivated as a food crop in Japan. I use 'Sun King' a lot in my design work and find it a wonderful big splash of easy to almost no care color. While it can grow happily in full sun, I prefer it in part shade. Too much shade and it will lose that golden yellow color and become more of a limey, chartreuse green

Very different from any native aralias. First, it is fully herbaceous. And it flowers quite late in the season so berries may or may not have time to ripen. Deadheading would eliminate any concern of self seeding or spreading by birds. It does grow to a significant proportion (6'x6', possibly more) and can produce some rhizomatous sprouting. And it has bright yellow foliage, so not at all a plant for full sun! And because it prefers at the very least partial shade, it does make a great companion planting for hostas.

I had to move mine to more sun. In dense shade it lost the gold color, turned more plain green and was very slow to grow. Once I moved it to a sunnier spot the growth exploded, it keeps its color and blooms. The clumps get bigger, send up more stems as the mature. The larger ones are 4'x4'. I think a location where they get 3 to 4 hours of good sunlight is better than all shade.

as long as the plant stays green.. it can process light into energy ... no matter how ugly the leaves look ... in nature.. it is not uncommon for some plague to roll thru..and devastate certain plants.. and if otherwise healthy .. most plants can and do recover ... and usually bugs dont kill their host outright.. or it would be a form of suicide ... check your pots at night.. to make sure you didnt move slugs with them.. keep in bright full shade ... plant in early fall..when the temps start dropping overnight ... ken