After posting this question, I ran a search through the GW site and found a thread started by Johnnieb in 2002! What a wealth of information! Apparently I'm in for a takeover in my garden... If this works, I'll have plenty of pups.

I ordered 'Steroidal Giant' from Plant Delights but my order hasn't been shipped yet--I suspect I'll be getting a substitute instead.

I've had the regular form in my garden for 3 years now. It has proven to be reliably hardy in my garden but has died to the ground every winter. It can (and does) send up new shoots several feet from the parent plant, but they are easy to pull out and have never been a problem. In my zone 7a/b garden it simply isn't vigorous enough to be a threat, so I wouldn't worry about a "takeover".

A couple of years ago I took a photo of a large clump growing at the U.S. National Arboretum (see link), which has grown much larger than my own plants. Tetrapanax should combine well with spring bulbs or perhaps bleeding hearts, which would provide some color and fill the space until it gets going, and wouldn't mind being shaded out by mid-summer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tetrapanax papyrifer

Great picture! Thanks! I wonder how old that one is. It's hard to believe my little 4-5" tall plant is a "steroidal" anything. In fact, before I planted it, I placed it in its container in the garden at the spot where I was planning to dig. One of my dogs trotted up and peed right into the container, soaking the soil completely. Maybe Tony Avent should have warned me that the plant appears to be a fire hydrant in the eyes of dogs. I hope the plant isn't stunted.

Those pictures make it look so tame. The runners in my yard appear by the hundreds, often as far as 20 feet from the main plant.

I hope that your Autumn is mild so that you (and the hundreds of flies that it will attract) can enjoy its bloom.

Mine is not the giant, but it is larger in my zone. It gives me a large leaf look that others achieve with gunnera.

Good grief! Maybe I need a pistol and a machete! PDN's website doesn't describe any blooms, and certainly not the flies. Johnnieb's thread contributions also don't mention these little bonuses. PDN says the suckers are "fortunately...easy to remove", so I am hoping yours are from a smaller, meaner, stinkier variety. Also, I don't know what gunnera is, so you lost me there. Thanks!

They begin to bloom in November or December. If you have had a freeze by then you may never see the bloom. You won't forget it if you do. No smell, its probably phermones that attract the insects.

After a rain I can rid my yard of the pups in about five minutes. It is a tradeoff that I can accept.

Gunnera is a large leaved tropical.

I planted steroidal giant last year. By the end of the summer it had gotten about 7 feet tall with huge leaves that were shaped just a little different from the regular Tetrapanax. Pups are coming up this spring so I guess it is hardy in zone 7a. I live in georgia just south of Chattanooga.

I'm in OS/Biloxi. Would you be interested in a trade of some sort? I'd like some of that paper plant.

See my page for plant lists

sea ya
tami