Adore us some acorus

I was just walking through our woodland garden and stopped to snap this photo of one of my favorite perennials, Acorus gramineus ‘Minnimus Aureus’. No matter how many new plants hit the market, this will always be a favorite and a plant I wouldn’t garden without. The evergreen chartreuse gold foliage remains bright all winter in the shade or part sun garden, so there’s no need for a carpet of mulch. Each plant spreads slowly, eventually kniting together to form a solid weed-subduing mat.

The fine texture of acorus is a beautiful contrast to bold-textured plants like the aucuba in the foreground. Did we mention that it’s deer resistant? Acorus, zone 5a-9b, is moisture loving, but also pretty darn drought tolerant.  

Acorus used to reside comfortably in the aroid family, with the likes of peace lilies and jack-in-the-pulpits, but now DNA researchers all reach different conclusions on where it belongs taxonomically and how it is related to the rest of the aroids. Check out the tiny upright flower spikes in spring, but you’ll need to slow down for a close look.

We grow a large number of acorus clones in the garden, and would love to offer more if only folks would buy them in larger numbers. 

3 thoughts on “Adore us some acorus”

  1. Someone else had this in their garden, at the bottom of the hill which provided lots of moisture. I see your acorus is planted next to water. So is lots of moisture needed for the strong growth? I’d love to try this as a ground cover for dwarf japanese maples, but am worried that the shallow roots of the maples will outcompete the acorus.

  2. I really like this one, too. My problem is in the garden setting it regularly gets covered up with leaves, needles, etc, by natural fall leaf shed, and then by birds constantly scratching through the mulch in search of food. I also grow it at the base of my lone bonsai A. truncatum, which is a very cool effect.

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