A life-long love for 'weird' plants means our columnist is extra excited about 'Sun King'

As gardeners, we can often lose sight of the forest for the trees. We get all excited about the weird, the rare, the unusual. If it comes in a pink-flowered form, we want the white one. And if it’s white in the wild, of course we’ll only plant the pink one.

If it’s weeping, variegated, contorted or dwarf, it goes on the must-have list. After 35 years of marriage, my wife has finally stopped asking when I’ll bring home a “normal” plant.

But in our defense, those of us who venture into the weird and unusual do occasionally stumble onto something that is worth all the fuss. "Sun King" Aralia is just the kind of plant that can serve up occasional redemption for the weird plant addict.

Right off the bat, the wild type of Aralia cordata would seem to be in serious trouble. With a common name of spikenard, it is clear that the creator didn’t have a PR campaign in mind. In its native haunts in Japan and Korea, it is one of those background plants that live at the edge of a dark woodland. A great big (8-9-foot tall) perennial with green leaves, subtle white flowers in late summer and black fruit.

Yawn. It's not really vying for a spot on the plant of the month club. Only the truly weird-plant geeks would ever grow it.

Enter "Sun King" to save the day for both plant and plant geek alike.

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Now just so you don’t think I’m trying to sell you a bit of horticultural snake oil, "Sun King" is the Perennial Plant Association’s Plant of the Year for 2020. And what’s the PPA? Well, it’s just the nation’s largest professional organization dedicated to the biggest perennial-plant geeks on the continent.

Since 1990 the PPA has polled its members to select one plant to promote across the country. Plants have to be ornamentally appealing, reasonably easy to cultivate over a wide swath of North America, free from serious pest and disease problems and just all-around good plants that could use a little PR boost. Some of us have been waiting and waiting for "Sun King" to get its turn in the spotlight.

First, this is a top-flight shade perennial that is grown primarily for its foliage. This time of year the plant is a little late to the leafing out party but once it gets going, it explodes out of the ground. Mature plants can top out at 4- to 5-feet tall and wide (it might take three or four years to get that big) so it’s a bit shorter than the straight species.

But it’s the foliage that makes this thing shine. Leaves emerge in spring an electric yellow that is impossible to ignore. The color is not a bright caution or school bus yellow but a shade that is both striking and subtle at the same time. The best way to describe it is that it provides an intense but pleasing contrast to the greens of the shade garden.

The siting of this selection is essential for maximum impact. The more sun it gets the better that foliage color will hold through the summer. Too much shade and it can fade a bit to a still pleasing but less dramatic bright yellow-green. In very heavy shade, it just looks a little lighter green than the others in the pack.

But by the same token, this is not a plant for full sun. The heat of a Kentucky afternoon sun can turn the yellow leaves crispy brown. So the best spot for this plant is someplace with high, filtered shade or strong morning sun with some shade for the hottest part of the summer day.

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Beyond the foliage, the show continues. Come July or early August, the plant is covered by zillions of tiny white flowers arranged in umbrella-like affairs called umbels. They are subtle at best, especially when shown off against the bright foliage. But they have a light, sweet scent and are usually covered by honey bees. Later in the fall, the flowers give way to shiny black fruits the size of a pencil point that makes a great contrast with the leaves.

In its native haunts in Asia, the plant is used both in cooking and medicine but I couldn’t bear to cut it for a salad. It is just too good of a garden plant. Played against fine textured ferns, bold hostas, hellebores, gingers and other denizens of the shade garden, "Sun King" can play the role of specimen, screen, background or star of the spotlight. About the only use not suited to this plant is container culture ... unless you have a really, really big container. It likes to let its roots roam freely.

"Sun King" aralia is a tough, durable and long-lived herbaceous perennial that should find its way into just about every garden. And maybe if it does, it will someday be considered “normal."

Yew Dell Botanical Gardens, 6220 Old Lagrange Road, yewdellgardens.org.