Variegated Giant Ophiopogon. Upon seeing a single clump of this cultivar of Ophiopogon jaburan in a small specialty nursery in Japan, I was struck with awe. I asked the owner through an interpreter if it was for sale. He then picked it up and handed it to me and the interpreter, who was a Japanese nurseryman, told me that he said, "Gift for you." Everyone else was quite envious, so when I divided the clump as we were washing our plants for the inspection station, I gave all of them a division. There is a great deal of confusion on the proper name of this selection because I see several offerings on the internet for Aztec Grass and this is the botanical name given. This accession looks like a giant form of our very familiar Liriope muscari 'Variegata,' but it differs in having much longer and wider leaves and white flowering spikes rather than purple, which gently recurve outward. These are followed by electric blue berries along the flowering scapes. One can plant the seed and many seedlings will also be variegated. The individual leaves can be well over 30" long, but since they arch outward, a clump will not be 30" high. But it can be used in mass or as an accent clump. Another advantage to this species is that it does not have the characteristic anthracnose leaf spotting at the end of winter like Liriope. Also, the foliage rarely burns in the winter and is clean and spotless even at the end of hard winter. It grows in a tight clump and does not run and prefers shade or filtered sun. Also, unlike Liriope, which begins new leaf growth in late winter, this selection doesn't show any new growth until late May each spring. So far deer have avoided it even though they stripped Aucubas in the same vicinity.
Zones 7-10
