Tips for Growing Cast-Iron Plants (Aspidistra) Outdoors

24.07.2024 - 03:13 / gardenerspath.com / Kristine Lofgren

Tips for Growing Cast-Iron Plants (Aspidistra) Outdoors

Aspidistra elatior is such a popular houseplant that songs have been written about it, and in Victorian times anyone who was anyone had at least one in their parlor.

But cast-iron plants are every bit as tough, adaptable, and attractive when they are grown outdoors in the garden.

This species earned its common name because they are pretty much as tough as cast iron. Tolerant and able to thrive in shade, drought, and depleted soil, there’s pretty much nothing that can destroy these robust specimens.

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Hardy to USDA Zones 7 to 11, cast-iron plants bring life and color to bland, shady areas in the landscape.

They can also be grown in containers in colder zones and brought indoors for the winter.

If you’re looking for information about growing cast-iron plants indoors, read our guide.

Otherwise, buckle in. Here’s what we’re going to discuss to help you make your outdoor aspidistras thrive.

Indoors or out, growing cast-iron plants is a piece of cake. But before we wax poetic about how easy they are to grow, you might be interested in their origin story.

Let’s talk about that, first.

Aspidistra eliator is indigenous to the southern islands of Japan and Taiwan. An herbaceous evergreen, it grows up to three feet tall and wide in the understory of warm, tropical forests.

The long, strappy leaves emerge from underground rhizomes and may be solid green or or have a variety of patterns featuring stripes, spots, or both.

This species was first described by botanist John Bellenden Ker Gawler in 1822. It rapidly gained not just popularity but a