What will our mystery ‘stick’ grow into?
Q Please could you identify the plant in the attached photo? We bought it as a stick with a couple of leaves on as we were intrigued. It has gone from strength to strength this year, but we still have no idea what it is or what it should look like.
Susan Tovey (via email)
A The shrub in question is a Japanese angelica tree (Aralia elata).
A native of Eastern Asia prized for its large, compound and architectural leaves and late summer and early autumn display of fetching umbels of small white flowers, it has great charm.
There are two striking forms: ‘Aureovariegata’ whose leaflets are irregularly margined with yellow, and ‘Albomarginata’ whose leaflets are edged with white.
I suggest that, initially, you consign your Japanese angelica tree to a container 12in/30cm larger in diameter than that which it is in now. Then pot it on when the roots push through the drainage hole.
Finally, it
