Aralia 'Sun King'

last year

Have you grown this? I planted one last year in a mostly shady area expecting to see growth as it is described as a fast grower but was disappointed. It's too early here (zone 6) to know if it made it or how it might look this season. I am tempted to try again in a different spot as it looks like a bright spot of chartreuse/yellow to fill a shady spot in front of my house.

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NHBabs z4b-5a NH

last year

Here are a couple of threads that include photos that show its potential for growing large.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5751053/show-us-your-a-s-k-aralia-sun-king#n=23

this first thread has a photo of a person standing next to a clump of them at the Coastal Maine Botanic Garden.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/3079688/rouge21-how-s-that-aralia-sun-king-looking#n=64

In this second thread is a photo posted by Thyme2dig with her 6’ tall husband standing next to it. I have seen this one in person, and is is huge and requires pruning to keep it out of the path and to prevent it smothering surrounding plants. it is growing on the north side of the house, but I think it gets some afternoon sun in midsummer. Both are in New England and quite happy.

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Comments (7)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
last year
where are you.. big city name..z6 is almost half the US and rather divergent...

how big was the transplant.. how did you plant it.. how did you do aftercare ..

you really shouldnt expect much in the year of transplant.. its doing al its work with the roots... i would not make presumptions about growth during the first year..

how dark is the area.. plants with white or yellow tissue might do poorly in a very dark spot ... lower growth rate would be one issue ... how many hours does this spot get.. at what hours of the day ....

there would be no reason you cant move the first plant.. except that you will delay its growth another year.. due to the transplant ...

ken
JCB@PVD thanked ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
JCB@PVD
Original Author
last year
Hi, thanks for your reply. Zone 6, Boston, it was a small specimen from a mail order nursery I’ve used for many, many years with no problem. It is listed as suitable for part-full shade and was planted in an area of shade with dappled sunlight at midday. The soil was amended with compost. I grow hostas in this area. It was watered weekly.

I understand plants work on putting down roots during the first season but was surprised it put out almost no top growth. Will try again!
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I've got some ASK for a very shaded area. From what I read online I thought that in the shade in my short growing season it would probably top out at 4' tall and wide, but NHBabs pointed me to this thread because of Thyme2dig's enormous specimen. I skimmed, so maybe I missed it, but how much sun does T2D's get? Larger than 4' would be great for my location, but it will determine if I put one or two there. If 7' wide is the norm in deep shade then I should only plant one. Also, I am at minimum 2 weeks behind everybody else, and possibly more. On the coast or Maine our summers come late. I know it's a fast grower, but our season is shorter.
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I have grown both. The Sun King can take from light shade to full sun. Mine was grown in light shade, but probably in the PNW with less sun and temperature would have done better in full sun. I bought two Pseudopanax laetus spring of 2014. One I planted under the canopy of large hemlock trees, the other out in full sun. Deer chewed the one under the trees down to a nub, but after I sprayed it with deer repellant it has recovered. The one in the sun was missed by the deer but I spray it with repellent which makes them lose interest after they did find it. It has gone from the one foot tall plant I bought to over three feet tall. They went through both winters without any damage, but then our last two winters weren't very cold. The 2014/15 winter got down to around 20 degrees, while this winter only got to 27 degrees. From what I have read they can't handle much below 15 degrees, but these being from Dan Hinkley's collection that Monrovia Nursery is selling, with him claiming them to be hardy into zone 7 I thought I would give them a try. Mr. Hinkley is known to find the hardiet sources of plants he collects. When we have a real Arctic storm with temperatures into the low teens or lower, then we will know how they will do here. I do like the look of the plant with evergreen palmate leaves giving that jungle look. If you like the look of P. laetus I would suggest you get Schefflera delavayi, Schefflera taiwaniana, or Schefflera fengii. All of these are very hardy west of the Cascades in the PNW. The director of the Rhododendron Species Foundation, Steve Hootman, says these three are the hardiest of the Schefflera. I believe him since I have all three of them and they have handled temperatures into the low teens. The owner of Cistus Nursery, a mail order source for S. delavayi, claims S. delavayi is hardy to 0° F. You can buy S. fengii from Far Reaches Farm, if they haven't been sold out yet. They also sold S. delavayi in the past. Their source of S. fengii is from Steve Hootman's collection from the RSF which also sells it from time to time. The RSF have Schefflera minutistllata in their spring catalog, and I saw three plants for sale at their gift shop nursery. I don't know how hardy they will be since I have only had them for three seasons. Schefflera taiwaniana has been sold throughout the PNW nurseries that handle Monrovia plants. This is another Dan Hinkley plant.
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kitasei2
last year
Aralia Sun King is a perennial, not a shrub, and late to come up. I’m in your zone and don’t expect mine to appear for several more months. Hang tight!
JCB@PVD thanked kitasei2
cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)
last year
I have one in fairly deep shade. As mentioned it is quite late to emerge, but I keep the spot marked so I can set 'dog-feet protection' in place when I see it.

I would not call it fast growing- if anything it is very slow. In my case I always put that down to the deep shade situation it lives in as well as the enormous trees it is next to sucking up all the moisture- these are very tough conditions I have back there. Last year I did have a few trees taken out and it should see a bit more light this year, so we'll see.

At any rate I don't expect to see it emerge for a while yet.

Here are two photos- in the first it is the tiny plant inside white wire directly over top of the "2020" written in the date.

Second photo is two years later, July 2022.
JCB@PVD thanked cearbhaill (zone 6b Eastern Kentucky)
violetsnapdragon
last year
last modified: last year
I have one in shade (only a couple of hours of morning sun) in Zone 5ish/6ish. It is bright, but it didn't get as big as I would have liked. Good news is that each year it has been bigger than the year before, so maybe it takes awhile? This is only the fourth year, so I'm hoping it will become the taller backround plant I had originally hoped it would be!
JCB@PVD thanked violetsnapdragon
violetsnapdragon
last year
Thanks, NHBabs! You give me hope! Maybe it just takes time and patience to grow it to full size.

Aralia 'Sun King'

NHBabs z4b-5a NH

Comments (7)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

JCB@PVD
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Aralia 'Sun King'

NHBabs z4b-5a NH

Comments (7)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

JCB@PVDOriginal Author

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kitasei2

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