I'm a Garden Editor, and Here's Why Giant Leopard Plant Is My Must-Have Garden Addition

It took me about a decade of gardening to learn restraint at the nursery when shopping for plants. But these days, I'm pretty strict about what makes it into my tiny backyard garden: Plants need to serve a real aesthetic or practical purpose and have interesting foliage for most, if not all, of the year.

That’s why the giant leopard plant (Farfugium japonicum var. giganteum), with its unusual, oversized round leaves, recently caught my eye. Lately, I’ve been spotting it in some of my favorite garden designers’ projects, including many in warm, dry regions like the one I live in. Maybe it was the plant to finally fill an empty patch of a shady bed in my backyard? Before making the leap, though, I needed to do my homework.

What are Giant Leopard Plants?

Giant leopard plant (sometimes called tractor seat plant) is an herbaceous perennial with glossy round leaves up to 18 inches across on plants reaching 3 to 4 feet tall. It comes from Japan, where it grows in shady spots along stream banks and in coastal areas. In late summer and fall, it sports small, yellow, daisy-like flowers.

Why Garden Designers Love Giant Leopard Plant

Garden designers are drawn to the giant leopard plant for the same reason it appealed to me: Those leaves. "Its rounded leaf form and glossy green color reminds us of a lily pond's edge,“ says Jessie Booth, partner (with Clementine Jang) at California landscape design firm Soft Studio. Flora Grubb notes that the plant is hugely popular at her eponymous style-forward nurseries in San Francisco and Los Angeles: "The adorable leaves remind me of the Pilea peperomioides, which people also went nuts for a few years ago." Yep, I was one of those people.

Megan McConnell, plant information director at Monrovia nurseries, concurs that the popularity of giant leopard plant is definitely on the upswing.“It fits a current garden trend of creating a relaxing retreat,” she says. “Big foliage creates calming spaces.”

In designers’ landscapes, I’ve seen giant leopard plants used in all kinds of ways: Mixed into shade beds, as a contrast to wispy ferns; lined up in masses, where they create more of a graphic look; and as accents in containers or alongside stairs, where the plant is large enough to be impactful but not overwhelming.

But rarely do those yellow flowers seem to show up in the landscapes I've seen. “Personally, I remove the flower stalk as it emerges,” says Grubb. “The plant definitely does not need the silly yellow flower.”

Giant Leopard Plant Care Considerations

Here's the catch, for my California garden at least: This is a plant that loves water. ”It likes organically rich soil that stays moist, is partial to full shade, and is happy with humidity,” says McConnell. But designers in warmer, drier climates told me that once it’s established, the plant is more forgiving than you'd expect.

"Whilst it takes a season to adjust to its new surroundings, it has proven to be tougher in its growth habit as the plant matures," says Australian garden designer Lee Gray, who likes to mist the plant's leaves at the end of especially hot days. What giant leopard plants won’t forgive is direct afternoon sun, which causes them to burn and collapse.

Of course, no plant is right for every garden, and for people in cold winter climates, giant leopard plants are off the table (they’re best for Hardiness Zones 7-10). For a hardy alternative, McConnell suggests a large hosta like 'Blue Angel' or 'Sum and Substance'; as a lower-water option, she recommends oak leaf acanthus. And for a sun-loving plant that also makes a visual splash, Grubb likes elephant's ears.

But none of those plants quite delight and surprise me like giant leopard plant does. So while its potential thirstiness gives me pause, I’m taking a chance on it—a small one, at least. I’m trialing just one plant instead of the several that I'd eventually like to use in my shady border. I'm going to plant it in the fall (ahead of our mild and hopefully rainy winter) and in the drier months, assess how much supplemental irrigation it needs. If it makes it without being too much of a water hog, next year may be the year of the giant leopard plant for my garden.