Disporopsis pernyi: The Asiian Collections staff and volunteers moved over 15,000 dollars worth of groundcover todayis

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I remember when this plant came on the scene; it seems like it was only yesterday. It still costs 15.00 a plant from Plant Delights, so we were delighted when Brad asked us if we wanted any of the large planting he's removing from one of the parking lot beds. We said sure and took a few of the flats he'd already dug and then dug two truckloads of our own. Nathan and Amanda did most of the work digging and moving. Our volunteers did most of the work planting. We planted two areas: one was along the "trail" from the China Valley entrance along the ridge to the bench that would overlook the Anacostia if there weren't so many plants in the way. We edged the first 60+ feet of the trail with a bed of Disporopsis varying from a foot or so wide to more than 25 feet. It'll define the edge of the trail and add a wonderfully textural groundcover to an area without much in the way of perennial plantings: a great coup. The balance we planted near the tool shed on a site that we've been working on for several years. We've removed a good many enthusiastic non-natives and now we're beginning to develop it as a garden space.


Disporopsis pernyi doesn't have a common name but it can be described as a semi-evergreen to evergreen groundcovering Asian Solomon's Seal. These plants are descendants of a collection made in the 1970s.