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NO ADVANCE ORDERS (NAO) – A selection of plants are NAO-No Advanced Orders. They have proved to be tricky; acquiring propagules, producing them, or getting them through the winter. We only put them on our availability lists when they are ready to ship. No hopes dashed. Plants must ship within 2 weeks or their availability date.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS:  Asarum canadense is a lovely low growing wildflower with bold heart shaped leaves. In early spring, curious chalice shaped deep red flowers appear nestled in the foliage at ground level.  This shade loving groundcover occur in rich woods or on well drained wooded slopes.

HABITAT & HARDINESS:  Asarum canadense is native to eastern North America from Quebec south to Georgia and west to Manitoba, North Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana.

Plants occur in moist to somewhat dry sites including rich deciduous woods, floodplain forests, upland woods, ravines, slopes and wooded bluffs.

This species is hardy from USDA Zones 4-8.

PLANT DESCRIPTION:  Asarum canadense is a native perennial groundcover that originates from fleshy branching rhizomes.

Short stems emerge at ground level bearing 2 handsome heart shaped or kidney shaped leaves.  Foliage persists through the growing season.  Each blade is 3-6” wide with smooth edges and a deeply indented base.  Blades are dark green and downy with long petioles, a lovely taffeta-like sheen and prominent veins.

In spring inch wide maroon red or brownish-purple flowers arise on short stalks beneath the leaf pairs.  Blooms are pubescent with 3 pointed spreading sepals that fuse into a cup at the base.  The blooms are white, pale green or mottled with purple inside.  They are unique and lovely but are inconspicuous because they are hidden beneath the foliage.

Plants usually attain a height of 6-12” and a spread of 12-18”.

CULTURAL & MAINTENANCE NEEDS:  Asarum canadense grows best in shaded sites with rich loamy acidic soil and abundant humus.

Plants tolerate part shade, heavy shade, drought and moist to wet sand, loam or clay soils.

This species spreads slowly from underground rhizomes to form a dense groundcover.

Plants are resistant to pests and unpalatable to deer and other herbivores.

LANDSCAPE USES:  This beauty is a Low Maintenance candidate for the Shade Garden or Wildlife Garden.  Asarum canadense is also used for Erosion Control and as an Accent, Butterfly Host Plant, Groundcover, Grouping or Mass Planting.  Plants are appropriate for shaded Cottage Gardens, Deer Resistant Plantings, Rain Gardens, Rock Gardens, Water-wise Landscapes or Perennial Borders.

COMPANION & UNDERSTUDY PLANTS:  Try planting Asarum canadense with spring blooming wildflowers like Aquilegia canadensis, Phlox divaricata, Iris cristata, Spigelia marilandica or Stylophorum diphyllum.

Carex pennsylvanica, Athyrium filix-femina and Polystichum acrostichoides are appropriate foliage companions.

Tiarella cordifolia or Heuchera americana ‘Dales Strain’ could be substituted for this plant due to their attractive foliage and shade tolerance.

TRIVIA:  Flies and beetles are likely the main pollinators of Asarum canadense flowers.  Seed have nutritious seed attachments called elaiosomes.  Ants disperse the seed when they take the elaiosomes back to their nests to feed the larvae. The caterpillars of pipevine swallowtail butterflies feed on the foliage.

This species is not at all related to true gingers. Asarum canadense is called wild ginger because the rhizomes emit a ginger scent when disturbed.  Plants are actually in the Aristolochiaceae or Pipevine family.

This wildflower is a great companion for shade loving spring ephemeral wildflowers.  The ephemerals emerge early in the season, bloom and die back usually by late spring.  Asarum canadense has persistent foliage that lasts through the growing season and continues to cover the ground after the ephemerals are gone.