Tetrapanax
A wonderful foliage plant, more suited to a milder garden, or sheltered spot in a colder garden. Great for creating a tropical effect, or providing shade conditions for other plants. Leaves can be 60cm across, often sharply lobed, with 5-11 fully unfurled at any one time. Flowers can be produced late in the year, but may be lost with the colder winter weather. Digging around the stem may encourage suckers, which can be cut and lifted, potted up, or planted elsewhere.
Like its relative ivy, the sprays of autumn flowers of Tetrapanax produce nectar and pollen in abundance, and support pollinators of all sorts,from honeybees to social wasps, and hoverflies to butterflies. The berries will be eaten by garden birds later in the winter when they are ripe.