Japanese Fatsia

Japanese fatsia is the tropical-looking evergreen shrub that thrives in the deepest shade the Western Washington garden can offer. The leaves are the signature: enormous, glossy, deeply lobed fans up to sixteen inches across, each one looking like it belongs in a rainforest rather than a Puget Sound backyard. In late fall, clusters of small white flowers appear in round heads at the branch tips, followed by dark berries that persist into winter. Native to the forests of Japan, it grows six to eight feet tall with a loose, spreading form that reads as lush and exotic.

Fatsia wants shade, the deeper the better. Full shade, north-facing walls, underneath evergreen canopy, the dark gap between buildings, these are the sites where fatsia excels and where almost nothing else survives looking good. One disease is tracked and no significant pest concerns. It is rated Zone 7 to 8, which makes it reliable through most Puget Sound lowland winters but vulnerable during arctic outbreaks. Protect it from sustained hard freezes below about fifteen degrees, and the evergreen foliage will carry through the winter. Variegated cultivars including 'Variegata' and 'Spider's Web' add cream and white to the leaf margins. For a bold, architectural presence in deep shade with virtually no maintenance, fatsia has no competition in the regional palette.