Aralia 'Sun King, Aralia cordata 'Sun King'
Common name: Golden Japanese spikenard, udo
Aralia 'Sun King', a golden form of the Japanese spikenard, is an excellent plant to lighten up a shady corner of the garden. It is grown for its beautiful golden foliage rather than its flowers. A warning though, the amount of sun that A. 'Sun King' receives will impact the colour of its foliage. Partial shade will produce leaves that are golden, while heavily shaded areas will yield foliage that is lime-green.
A. 'Sun King' emerges mid spring and grows at a fairly fast rate to about one and a half metres (five feet) tall, and as wide. Its leaves are double or triple pinnate, and each leaflet is lightly toothed. A. 'Sun King' bears umbels of tiny, white flowers which are attractive to honeybees. These flowers are followed by clusters of small, black berries which birds enjoy, but are inedible to humans.
A. 'Sun King' is cultivated as an ornamental, but is also used medicinally, and as a food. This cultivar's young shoots are considered a delicacy in Japan, its taste resembling that of asparagus. It has been eaten as a 'taste of spring' since ancient times (the Edo Period) in Japan.
American plantsman and plant explorer Barry Yinger, found this cultivar in a department store nursery in Japan, and brought it back to the United States. It was introduced to the wholesale trade by Terra Nova Nursery in 2011. A. 'Sun King' was named the 2020 Perennial Plant of the Year by the Perennial Plant Association.
Aralia 'Sun King' can be found in Bed 25 of the Woodland Garden. Eight were planted in 2015.
Some relatives of this plant are Aralia racemosa (American spikenard), Aralia spinosa (devil's walking stick), and Aralia elata (Japanese angelica tree), the latter found in the Winter Walk and Fern Dell.
Text and photos by Kumi Sutcliffe