Wild Ginger

 Wild Ginger

Wild ginger (Asarum canadense) is a perennial ground cover that has attractive heart-shaped leaves. The Ginger is a slow growing plant, so it is great for plants with a lot of other flowers or ground covers. This slow grower likes lots of shade as well. A little bit of sun can be expressed but not more than a few hours a day. The plant only reaches about 6 inches in height. The Wild Ginger plant ships bare root year round. They grow well in zones 4-8.

 Ants spread wild ginger seeds.

The ants deliver the seed back to their colony where they will eat the fleshy nodules and discard the actual seed, which is then left to grow in the nutrient-rich plant waste underground. While it is not to be confused with the more common type of ginger that is used to season food, there are still some recipes that call for using wild ginger as a spice substitute.

Wild Ginger has dark smooth leaves are like nothing you have ever seen. Even the texture of these beautiful plants will amaze every gardener.

This plant is a known to the birthwort family. It is native to the North American eastern woodlands, although there are other varieties of the genus that are native to Europe and east Asia. New plants will produce a tiny pair of leaves each spring that are heart-shaped or kidney-shaped in appearance and will have a soft, hairy texture. Although they are a light green shade when they emerge, the leaves will gradually darken to a medium green color over the course of a few weeks. Eventually, the two leaves will grow to be 3" to 6" wide atop stalks that can be up to 15" tall. There is a single flower that grows at the base of the stem. It is tube-shaped with no petals and is reddish-brown.

The Wild Ginger is shipped bare root.