PlantAdvice.co.uk

Robust and reliable groundcover plants offering attractive foliage effect in shady places. Asarum europaeum has been valued and cultivated as a medicinal herb since the 13th century and is more tolerant than other varieties of the cooler British summers. These low spreading plants have sweetly pungent roots which give rise to their common name of 'hardy ginger'. Exotic hooded purple-red flowers on short stems appear in the spring nestled under glossy rounded leaves.

• Garden care: A low maintenance plant requiring only a light mulch of leaf mould or garden compost every one or two years to maintain soil fertility.