Last year I had a grounds crowded with Korean Angelica.  I wasn’t pleased with the location of the various populations.   I have grown Gigas now for about 8 years.  We are  at a point where I limit the number of those permitted to mature to about 400.  Well, 200 plus, anyway.  I have removed over 300 not counting the seedlings which keep popping up all summer.   Fortunately, they are easy to cull or transplant.

Then, because Gigas  (Korean Angelica) is a biennial, I permit a number of first year plants to fill their space with a pleasant, but modest form this year, to show their magnificent presence and displays next year.

And what a display they are this season!   They began to open their seedheads (floral displays) about a week and a half ago.   With each tier of flowerheads still opening,  the maroon of the ‘bloom’ is beginning to dominate.  They are the most striking herbaceous plant in the gardens. 

Some plants are over nine feet tall.   The first opening  flowerheads begin to lose color after about seven to ten days as the seeds are developing.  The foliage is strong and beautifully formed with leaves and their stems  often over two feet in length.  

In one area of floral  display, the strong-stemmed gigas keep a dozen or so garden phlox beautifully erect.  There is no room to fall faint.

The seeds mature quickly and can be sewn in the fall as well as in the spring.  I often pull out the dried up plant and with sturdy central cane and all, I walk around the grounds where I want the plant to dominate shaking seeds from the plant like salt from a salt shaker.   The seeds are large enough to be individually counted. 

There is one color, maroon, the plant has to offer.  The manner of floral display is also striking.  Around the third week in July one of the new branch leaf growths will appear to contort and curl, and rise somewhat vertically.  The growth swells until the maroon begins to be exposed.

I liken the plant form to a huge very striking candlebrum with eight or so arms showing of the maroon collections.  Some central stems are thicker and stronger than a corn stalk. 

Korean Angelica will grow happily in deep shade as well as full sun.   It prefers to be regularly watered.   I have grown plants in a size one pots.  There they  grow to only two feet, but nearly all will present a bloom or two despite the restrained root space.  My nine foot tall specimens are reliably watered every other day for 15 minutes, and are very impressive in stature as well as bloom. 

I use a balanced granulated fertilizer each spring.