Wild Ginger: A Tough Native Groundcover

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Geoffrey Mehl

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In deep shade, the heart-shaped leaves are soft green, but they’ll turn a bit brighter and glossier with some morning sun.

If there’s one species of native plants utterly indispensable for shady or native woodland gardens, wild ginger (Asarum canadense) is it! Found throughout the eastern US (except the Gulf Coast), wild ginger stands up to challenging conditions, yet is one of nature’s better behaved groundcovers and edge plants.

This leafy beauty slowly forms thick colonies of rich green and doesn’t grow more than a few inches tall. The pretty heart-shaped leaves are a rather soft green in deep shade, but they can get glossy and bright when the plant is working with some morning sunshine. What’s more, this groundcover never gets out of hand.

In the garden, wild ginger is terrific for poor soils in very shady areas, but it’s also helpful in lighter shade and even part sun in a wide range of soils and moisture – it’s a true utility plant! You can use it in those tough situations under maple trees and evergreens or to soften building lines. Try planting wild ginger along leading edge beds as a great transition from lawn to larger favorites – you’ll find it forms a unifying feature that really brings your garden together.

If you get a really close look at the plant, you’ll find its matted rhizomes form a nest just below the earth’s surface. (Chances are it’ll remind you of a tangle of long, green worms.) Because the roots are so close to the surface, it’s very easy to slice off chunks from the continual colony expansion and replant them elsewhere virtually any time of the year. Since wild ginger only puts up one batch of leaves in a season, your transplanted patch will probably look a bit forlorn in its first year, but be patient. It’ll quickly settle in and begin to fill the gaps come spring.

Tips

Because wild ginger’s root system is so close to the surface, I give it a little extra leaf mulch in late fall to protect the plant. I usually leave the mulch on in the spring, but I find myself peeking underneath come April to see if there are emerging leaves on the way.

Facts

Despite its common name, wild ginger isn’t related to the more familiar spice. (That’s called Zingiber officinale, which grows in Indonesia and Jamaica.) But the plant’s spicy rhizomes are reminiscent of it. In fact, Native Americans used wild ginger roots for seasoning their food.
Asarum canadense is hardy well up into Canada, but not in the Deep South or West. There are several close relatives, like A. caudatum, A. hartwegii and Hexastylis (little brown jug), that gardeners living in those regions can enjoy.

Faqs

Q: Can I grow wild ginger from seed?
A: Propagating wild ginger from seed falls into the “challenging” category – but don’t let that stop you from growing this plant. Just cut off an excess patch of wild ginger from an established colony, and you’ll have plenty to spread around your garden.

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