Beautiful 'Steve'.

I have two and both look good and I believe this is because neither receive very little direct sun.

Who doesn't love this plant in shade? Such a great cultivar. Been wanting to post, finally have a few minutes. I have four, all planted in late 2017. My tallest is this one, and I'm not sure why. Shade seems heavy, but maybe it gets more water because it's at the bottom of a slight slope. Last summer was very dry, and it was basically their first summer.

These two really need to get taller or I'm going to have to rearrange. They are supposed to rising above the dark cohosh plants. They are still young, so I'm certainly going to give them more time to expand.

This last one had a really unloved beginning this year with all our rain. I swear there is a slug nest right underneath it. They completely leaf stripped it until I put out beer just before June, which is the first photo. I just refreshed the beer two nights ago and I had about 15 crawl in the first night. Next is the plant today, still significantly shorter than the others.

So this is mainly a plant for shade? I am asking because I recommended it to a friend, although I don’t have it, just on the basis of the enthusiasm here ;-). With him it would be in a fairly sunny location.

It's mainly for part shade, but if he lives in a cool climate I am under the impression it handles sun better, but not necessarily full sun. In the Deep South you definitely want lots of shade, but in the very northern zones it handles more sun better as long as it is watered. Missouri Botanical Garden puts it solidly in part shade. My feelings would be that solid full sun might burn it,

Thank you, Deanna. We are both in Ontario, so not the south, but probably not full sun either. Maybe he will have to find another plant for the spot.

What's interesting to me is, of the dozen or so that I have in the ground, the four that are doing really well are the ones that get some late day sun, rather than morning sun.

Both of these were planted this year - bought big ones right out of the gate:

I can't seem to get the pic of the puny one I've been grumbling about to post...ah technology...

Here's the runt -- just refuses to get any taller, it's at least 3 years old. I think I'm just going to replace it with a new, large one-- I really want the effect the SK's give in this particular spot.

So this is mainly a plant for shade?

Having multiple of these plants for many years I do consider it a "plant for shade".

(But I guess like many shade plants it can tolerate more sun provided it gets more water?)

Ok, where can I buy this plant? :)

Check your local nurseries

It's trendy now and has been for a few years, so it should be available many places. That also means if the trend dies next year, it will be available nowhere. But, for this year it should be readily available.

I never head of this plant before I saw this post. Will deer and rabbits eat it? I have both. Also a groundhog!

My hungry rabbits don’t touch it.

I had never seen this plant in my local nurseries. (although most of my local nurseries have the same stocks as the BBS). Same as gracie01 that I know this plant from this website (First saw it in one of the pictures from GardenHo_MI_Z5 garden I believe) :)

I have rabbits, groundhogs, and the occasional deer visiting, and nothing with four legs has touched it so far...now spider mites are a different story :-/

One of our ASK (actually the one pictured above) is situated within easy reach of deer and rabbits and the foliage is always immaculate.

I found some info:

https://www.bluestoneperennials.com/ARSK

These are huge specimens at the Coastal Maine Botanical Garden today.

Wow!! Is that their normal potential??

A NH gardener who isn't on the forum much has one about that size. I don't know how long it takes to get there, but I'm wondering how much moisture plays a part. As an example, hosts are drought tolerant, but they come from a high moisture environment. They reach their full potential with adequate water. Wondering if Aralia is the same. At least I know with our short growing season that this size is possible! Wish I knew more about how to get it this size, other than time.

Out of the three I grow, this one is by far the largest. It gets quite a bit of sun. Very little rain has fallen here since the end of June. I've only watered this once or twice. A few of the leaves are showing some signs of burn but all and all it's holding up better than expected.