Ligularia dentata 'Othello'
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Tried and True Recommended by 4 Professionals
Common Name: leopard plant
Type: Herbaceous perennial
Family: Asteraceae
Zone: 3 to 8
Height: 2 to 3 feet
Spread: 1.5 to 2.5 feet
Bloom Time: July to August
Bloom Color: Yellow
Bloom Description: Yellow-orange
Sun: Part shade to full shade
Water: Medium to wet
Maintenance: Medium
Flowers: Showy Flowers
Leaves: Colorful
Tolerates: Wet Soil, Dense Shade
Uses: Rain Garden

Culture

Best grown in rich, humusy, medium to wet soils in part shade to full shade. Must have moist soils that never dry out. Benefits from a regular, deep watering in hot summers. Needs a shaded location in the St. Louis area.

Noteworthy Characteristics

This leopard plant cultivar is an imposing, clump-forming perennial with a mounded habit that is grown as much for its dark colored foliage as for its flowers. Features huge, leathery, toothed, long-petioled, heart-shaped basal leaves (up to 1' wide). New leaves emerge purplish-red, but mature to brownish-green on top and purplish beneath. Yellow-orange, daisy-like flowers (2-4" across) appear in summer in loose-branched corymbs atop thick, mostly leafless stems rising above the foliage typically to 2-3' tall. Petioles, veins, flower stalks and lower leaf surfaces of this cultivar are distinctively reddish-purple. This cultivar is very similar to and somewhat difficult to distinguish from Ligularia dentata 'Desdemona', except it is perhaps slightly smaller and produces slightly smaller flowers. Closely related to and formerly included in the genus Senecio.

Problems

No serious insect or disease problems. Slugs and snails are often attracted to the foliage. Even with adequate moisture, leaf wilting may occur in hot summer climates (foliage droops in afternoons with recovery at night), particularly when the plant is exposed to too much sun.

Garden Uses

Group or mass in moist or wet areas of shade or woodland gardens, or along streams, ponds, pools or bog gardens. Good plant for a shady area on the north side of a house. Can be grown in a shaded area of the border if the soil moisture requirements can be met. Grow with interrupted fern (Osmunda claytonia) or Japanese sedge (Carex morrowii) which share the same general cultural requirements.

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