'Sun King' Golden Japanese Spikenard - Aralia cordata - Morton Arboretum Plant Sale

 The sign at the Morton Arboretum Arbor Day Plant Sale reads:  2020 Perennial Plant of the Year!  A unique addition to your shade garden.  'Sun King' emerges mid-spring with bright gold leaves and reddish brown stems.   In heavier shade, the foliage ranges from chartreuse to lime green.  A hardy, tropical looking beauty that brightens up the shade.  

It gets 3 feet tall and 3 feet wide.  

I've been thinking about Sun King Aralia for a couple years and I finally pulled the trigger and bought six of them for our backyard garden.  

Here's a listing from Proven Winners that describes Sun King:

A unique golden-leafed plant for the shade. The color will be brighter yellow in part sun, and more chartreuse or lime green in full shade. Tiny white flowers. After blooming, deep purplish black, inedible berries.

Here's the plant tag below:

And, here below is a look at the plant in the nursery pot:

These are going into a 'Garden Edit' in the backyard and will be part of the Hosta Replacement Project in the shade.