Polygonatum kingianum Orange Flower Form

In my wildest dreams (and I do have some pretty wild dreams), I never thought I’d see anything like the rare orange-flowered form of Polygonatum kingianum. Forget everything you know about Solomon’s seal, except that it grows from a rhizome in shade. In spring, the stalk emerges, clothed with whorled sets of narrow, dark green foliage. Each leaf ends in a curled loop that it uses to climb above its neighbors…the original social climber. At each whorl of foliage are small, bright-orange, bell-like flowers that make for a jaw-dropping show. This easy-to-grow clumper gets larger and taller as the size of the rhizome increases with age. For us, Polygonatum kingianum stands erect unless it sets a good crop of large green berries. This is an absolute gem for the woodland garden…get them while they last.