Plants with Large Leaves 2014

I know its probably a Boy Thing! but herewith a copy of a post I made in the Canna 2014 thread

Plants that produce large leaves if Stooled (cut down and only one bud/stem allowed to grow back):


Paulownia tomentosa. Easily grown from seed, and makes a nice [flowering] tree in its own right if allowed to grow on.


Ailanthus altissima. Suckers and has a bad reputation for spreading. Mine hasn't (yet!)

and Catalapa bignoides (possibly Aurea). Slower growing, so whereas the two above can be stooled from year 2, or 3, onwards the Catalpa is a longer term proposition.

Exotic looking plants with large leaved :


Tetrapanax papyrifer rex. Once it starts flowering it produces smaller leaves. Not sure of the best way to combat that, perhaps to replant (it grows easily from root cuttings / suckers) every few years so as to only have "young" plants.



Ricinus communis (annual, from seed. Pictures in August). Measurements I made, out of curiosity, one year were that the Green type had a leaf width of 87cm and height (at end of season) of 210cm, The Red leaf type had a height of 142cm

Fatsia japonica deserves an Honourable Mention too and it is evergreen and hardy, so a useful backbone plant for an exotic garden.

And then there are the Bananas:


this is my Musa sikkimensis a few days ago (end of June 2014), and will be considerably taller by the end of the season The Persicaria Red Dragon has also done well following the mild winter, as has the Solanum laciniatum (to the right of the Musa) which is normally killed by the winter, but this year wasn't even cut back and is now a problem in its own right as there is no light for planting low down! (I'm contemplating sowing S. laciniatum in July, to over winter frost-free, to have more monstrous plants like this one in future years, otherwise it doesn't really get going until around August)

Ensete Maurelii (taken at the end of last season):



Personally I'm not a fan of Musa basjoo. It is the hardiest of the bunch - in a cold winter it will be cut to the ground, but regrow from the roots (and grow 7' or so in a season), but I think the leaves are narrow and spear-like, and I prefer the widee paddle-shaped leaves of M. sikkimensis.

Musa sikkimensis can be grown from seed, but germination is very hit & miss (10% germination can be good, so a packet of 10 seeds is a real gamble!!) so I find it easier to buy a few plants, mid summer, on eBay and over-winter frost free in case my outdoor ones snuff it in a cold winter. My theory is that, through natural selection, I will eventually wind up with the most cold hardy variants of the species

 

For an easy low hassle annual there is always Nicotiana sylvestris....................

 

They do have surprisingly large leaves

 

Not a boy thing at all! I think the obsession with spiky things eg agaves probably is, though.

 

Rheum palmatum Bowles Crimson - sorry, cropped from a wider shot, I'll take a better photograph

 

Macleaya cordata
Why isn't this one seen more often. I think it's gorgeous.

 

How about Dahlia imperialis , Not sure if your counting compound leaves.
Another large compound leaf, bipinate
Kentucky coffee tree, Gymnocladus dioicus.

Washingtonia fillifera

Asimina triloba can get to a reasonable size, although not massive, very nice in form and shape.

Alocasia?

 

Lets not forget the gunnera

 

Amorphophallus konjac

 

Alocasia Calidora maybe? Hybrid bred by LariAnn Gardner, the leaves can get 3 to 4 feet long and 3 feet wide. Picture from Brian's Botanicals



I think that can be grown in the UK (but not to that size - needs a lot more summer heat)

 

Don't remember seeing them at the Open Day?