A neighbour is offering me these plants that have jumped his fence. They seem to be mature and neglected at best, as he doesn't want them. Any thoughts as to what they are? The spot I have in mind for them is deep shade.
Notice how they appear as cattle bunched up and waiting to get on the other side of the fence - with those dimensions this must be Petasites japonicus. A plant that produces a creeping rootstock giving it an indefinite spread.
Thank you, Ron B. I'm sure you hit the nail on the head. Now I have to decide if I want this plant with the "indefinite spread". Maybe in a container. Thank you, Georgia Strait, for the link. It looks like a very interesting story. I'll read it in detail later.
The last set of photos in the first posting in this thread are Petasites japonicus var. giganteus growing at UBC botanical garden. May 2021 - new leaves, some flowers too | UBC Botanical Garden Forums And there's another photo with a garden visitor standing next to them: June 10, 2013 - Just a few old favourites | UBC Botanical Garden Forums I seem to remember that pretty soon after they look that great, they start to get eaten up by something and don't look all that attractive.
I remember exploring ditches along Penzance Drive in Burnaby sometime in the 1980s and discovering a neat plant that I subsequently learned was Petasites japonicus. (How it came to be growing there is a mystery.) I assumed that because it was growing wild that it must be a native plant (a common mistake) which I love to collect. I took a little piece and planted it in the ditch in front of my place. Ooops! The native Coltsfoot is Petasites palmatus - E-Flora BC Atlas Page Years later, I noticed what I thought was Petasites japonicus growing all around a small pond behind the UBC garden gift shop and then sometime later, seeing that it was all gone. I've never wondered why it was removed because it is so aggressive but have wondered how they got rid of it.
There is still a large planting of this at the UBCBG. It pops up in wetter areas nearby. The Garden is so densely planted, that it does not seem to spread very much. It's an impressive plant with such large leaves, but not really very ornamental for a home landscape.
