Tricyrtis hirta (Toad Lily): Shade-loving perennial with fascinating flowers

Every month at the Pitt County Arboretum, we hold what we call a Northside Plant Walk, where we walk through the Arboretum (often including a loop on what is known as the Northside Walking Trail) and discuss plants that share a common characteristic. I often have many of the plants in mind well ahead of each month’s tour, but I also like to walk the grounds myself a day or two before the tour to see what else might catch my eye that is not already on my radar. I tell you this because when I was putting together this past month’s tour, the bloom of our Toad Lily in the Perennial Garden called to me so loudly that I simply had to include it.

Toad Lily (Tricyrtis hirta), also called Japanese Toad Lily or Hairy Toad Lily, is an herbaceous flowering perennial plant that is excellent for shady sites and average to wet soils. It is native to Island regions of Japan, where it is found growing along shady rocky cliffs and stream banks. It was introduced into the United States in the late 1800s, but was found mainly only in botanic gardens and specialty nurseries for many years, and really only became widely available for the average gardener in the 1990’s. The name Tricyrtis, translates roughly to “three bulges,” a reference to the three swollen nectar sacs found within each blossom. The nectar is a favorite of hummingbirds, and flowers are often visited by various butterfly and bee species as well.

Above left: Toad Lily flower. Photo: André Karwath, CC-BY SA 2.5 Above right: Toad Lily flowers and leaves. Credit:  Alpsdake CC BY-SA 4.0

It can be difficult to find plants that perform well in heavy shade, and especially difficult to find plants that bloom heavily in shade. As such gardeners with shady gardens tend to rely on plants like hosta, ferns, and astilbe, and lament the relative lack of other options. While these are all fine plants, it is always nice to have options. Enter Toad Lily, which not only tolerates shade, but requires it, and will bloom prolifically from late summer through fall. The typical Toad Lily has blossoms that are speckled purple and white, with petals arranged in the shape of a six-pointed star. Individual flowers are small. Plants have a spread of 18-23 inches. The blooms are colorful, but the intricacy and complexity of the shape and color pattern is best appreciated when the viewer can see the flowers from up close, thus it’s ideal, if possible, to plant them along the edge of a flower bed, or near a path, wall, or other feature that allows close inspection.

Toad Lily pairs well in the garden with plants like hosta, astilbe, ferns, and hellebores (Lenten Roses), not only due to their previously mentioned love of shade, but also due to a similar affinity for high organic matter and soil acidity. Toad Lily will probably tolerate wetter soils than any of the aforementioned plants, but as long as soils are at least slightly moist it will be happy. It will not perform well in dry areas. Partial shade is okay, but more than half a day of sun will likely cause some leaf burn or other stress.  

Above center: Many cultivars  of Toad Lilies generate a myriad of hues of pinks, purples, blues, yellows, and whites and differences in foliage. Left: 'Miyakazi Gold' Toad Lily has purple flowers with green/white variegated foliage. Right: Leaves, buds and flowers. Photo:  Cathy DeWitt CC BY 4.0

There are quite a few interesting cultivars of Toad Lily, each of which has slightly different flower colors or foliar characteristics. To quickly summarize just a few of these: ‘Alba’ and ‘White Tower’ have white flowers, ‘Albomarginata’ has green/white variegated foliage with purple flowers, ‘Lightning Strike’ and ‘Miyazaki Gold’ have green/gold variegated foliage with purple flowers, ‘Golden Gleam’ has yellow leaves with purple/white flowers, and there are quite a few others with varying combinations.

Last Northside Plant Walk of 2024
If you’d like to attend one of our Northside Plant Walks, the next one will be at 12 noon on November 8th at the Pitt County Arboretum and will focus on Berries, Twigs, and other Underappreciated Ornamental Attributes.

Matthew Stevens is the County Extension Director and Horticulture Agent for North Carolina Cooperative Extension’s Pitt County Center. If you have questions about this article or gardening in general, please contact the Pitt County Extension Master Gardeners at [email protected] or 252-902-1705.