Ligularia 'Desdemona'
Ligularia dentata 'Desdemona' · Asteraceae
Big, round, leathery leaves, dark green above and rich mahogany purple beneath, with ragged orange-yellow daisies on dark stems in late summer.
- Size
- 3½ ft tall, 3½ ft wide
- Zones
- 4 to 8
- Light
- Part shade to shade
- Flowers
- Late July to early September
- Pets
- Not checked
- Job in a bed
- Specimen
A bed built around ligularia 'Desdemona'
The planner designed this bed around ligularia 'Desdemona' when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) English border in zone 6, part shade. It chose the other plants from the 354 that suit those conditions and its wet soil, and says below why ligularia 'Desdemona' stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Ligularia 'Desdemona' × 1, orange
- 2 Sedge 'Bunny Blue' × 8, blue-green leaves
- 3 White barrenwort 'Niveum' × 8, white
- 4 Autumn monkshood × 3, blue
- 5 Northern sea oats 'River Mist' × 3, green
- 6 Gray's sedge × 3, green
- 7 Yellow trout lily × 12, yellow
- 8 Hardy orchid × 3, purple
Why this plant
- The only bold leaves here. The rest are medium. A change of leaf keeps plants distinct when nothing is in flower.
- The only daisies. The others are airy sprays, spires, globes and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
- The only orange.
Why here
- Anchors a back corner. At 3½ ft it is among the tallest plants here, and the tallest close the ends of the bed, where they stand in front of nothing.
- A step in the back row. Next to northern sea oats 'River Mist' (2½ ft): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- One plant, alone. A feature plant is seen as an object, and needs clear ground around it.
Why now
- In flower for 7 weeks. From late July to early September.
- Part of the bed's peak. With northern sea oats 'River Mist' and Gray's sedge in late July: 3 kinds at once. No week has more.
Planned as an English border: 6 of the 7 groups (86%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. Cool colours (blue and purple) set against hot ones (orange and yellow), with white and green to calm things between them. Sedge 'Bunny Blue' and white barrenwort 'Niveum' finish the front edge.
The planner's own design check: 11 Excellent, 6 Good.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where ligularia 'Desdemona' goes in a border
At 3½ ft it belongs in the middle of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is moderately tall (3 to 4 ft).
Its job: specimen. A feature plant with a shape of its own. It stands alone with room around it, and repeats only at a distance.
A bold leaf for wet shade. The leaves collapse in afternoon sun even in damp soil, then recover by evening: plant it where it is shaded after midday.
- Bold foliage for wet shade
- Pond and stream sides
- Late-summer colour in shade
What to plant with ligularia 'Desdemona'
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Hosta 'Blue Angel': its blue-green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after; spires rising out of its mound.
- Royal fern: its green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after; medium leaves against its bold ones; happy in the same wet soil.
- Astilbe: flowers first, late June to mid July, so the spot is never empty; fine leaves against its bold ones; low enough (24 in) to stand in front of it.
Questions about ligularia 'Desdemona'
Does ligularia 'Desdemona' need sun or shade?
Ligularia 'Desdemona' grows in part shade (2 to 4 hours of sun, mostly in the morning) and shade (less than 2 hours of direct sun, or bright dappled light).
It wants moist to wet soil, rich in organic matter, and plenty of water.
What zones does ligularia 'Desdemona' grow in?
USDA zones 4 to 8. It is hardy to zone 4, which means it survives winter nights down to about −20 °F (−29 °C).
Above zone 8 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does ligularia 'Desdemona' flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers late July to early September. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 4 | Early August to early September |
|---|---|
| Zone 5 | Late July to early September |
| Zone 6 | Late July to early September |
| Zone 7 | Mid July to early September |
| Zone 8 | Mid July to early September |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should ligularia 'Desdemona' be planted?
3 ft (90 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 3½ ft (100 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 3½ ft (100 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many ligularia 'Desdemona' plants do I need?
At 3 ft apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 1 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 4 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 4 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as one, with clear ground around it: a feature plant is seen as an object, and a group of them is a thicket.
In the bed above, the planner used one in one group.
What flowers after ligularia 'Desdemona'?
Ligularia 'Desdemona' is over by early September. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Blue-stemmed goldenrod: from early September to mid October, 2½ ft tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
- Toad lily: from mid September to mid October, 2½ ft tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
- Blue wood aster: from mid September to mid October, 3 ft tall.
What does ligularia 'Desdemona' look like in winter?
Ligularia 'Desdemona' dies down to the ground and there is nothing to see until spring. The old stems can be cut in autumn, or left until spring as shelter for overwintering insects.
More Ligularia
- Ligularia 'Bottle Rocket' Ligularia 'Bottle Rocket'
- Ligularia 'Britt-Marie Crawford' Ligularia dentata 'Britt-Marie Crawford'
- Ligularia 'The Rocket' Ligularia stenocephala 'The Rocket'
In these guides
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 3½ ft (100 cm) tall, 3½ ft (100 cm) wide
- Plant
- 3 ft (90 cm) apart
- Height class
- Moderately tall (3 to 4 ft)
- Place in the bed
- Middle
- Flowers
- Late July to early September; daisies; orange, yellow
- Leaves
- Bold texture, herbaceous; dark green, purple
- Shape
- Mounding, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 4 to 8
- Light
- Part shade, shade
- Soil
- Rich, moist to wet
- Water
- High
- Feeding
- Light, in spring
- Family
- Asteraceae
Not yet checked against an outside reference: its figures rest on general horticultural knowledge. Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.