There is something special about the character accompanying folks who beautify the Earth with beautiful grounds.   Few of the sixty plus  client visitors to our  past Thursday’s Masterpiece Garden  Party  know one another.    The evening was heavy of air but fortunately,  without rain.

Gardens draw  friendships together.   We all had a common bond …..to transform our grounds.  Conversations  and laughter  and addresses  were shared.

Without question the garden  plant  of  Party talk centered on  Angelica gigas, unknown generally, but when known is  commonly called  Korean angelica.   Several hundred of them were entering full bloom  and will continue to do so for several weeks.   Each specimen appears as a ballet dancer, tutu and all,  from  the first foot of foliage to its spectacular period of bud and sharp maroon  flower cluster show usually beginning in midAugust in our Twin City area.

No garden  floral display appears more stately, more proud to show off its  superior form of presence when in bloom.   No foliage greenery is better designed  to resemble a ballerina performing on stage.   It  is shockingly eye-catching,  whether  single or  in group.

I have had Korean angelica growing in our Masterpiece Garden grounds for about fifteen years.   I was early-on informed that Angelica gigas was a biennial,  that is, a herbaceous plant that grows from seed to  death in two years….. such as the common onion or carrot.      The first year develops  foliage,  strong  roots, storing the necessary energy to produce the next year,   the reproductive parts of the plant,  the  flowers and seeds to continue its future  the second year,  when it grows a  cane   ranging from  a puny two feet to a stately eleven feet tall, depending upon seasonal nutrient and water availability.

I have discovered since that  Angelica gigas,  after flowering,  often  does send out underground  root shoots in  the first year  which do  produce  blooms and their seeds  the very  next season, causing the species to behave like a perennial instead of a biennial.    Angelica gigas is  not shy about  producing seeds, lots of them whether grown in shade or sun.

After you establish the general number of plants for your garden display, I’d advise you remove the flower clusters as soons as the seeds are developed, usually in mid September.    Although Angelica gigas may qualify as a weedy plant  for its determination to reproduce, it is a weed ONLY if becomes a plant out-of-place.