Sacred Lotus a.k.a. Nelumbo Nucifera

We get it…It’s odd to recommend an aquatic plant as a favorite big-leaf outdoor plant. But if you drop a sacred lotus into a pot and put it in the ground, the plant can grow alongside any other perennial, and it will give your garden a stunning effect.

Its unique leaves can reach more than 2 feet, and they have an exotic flair no other plants can match.

The vivid blooms in shades ranging from soft yellow to pink rose and white float just above the foliage, each lasting a couple of days before the petals fall to reveal a budding ornamental seedpod.

Success with this big-leaf outdoor plant in your garden depends on you planting it in a nondraining container holding the water it needs to thrive.

Mayapple a.k.a. Podophyllum

The big umbrella-like leaves of the Mayapple plant grow in woodland native gardens, creating attractive groundcover which blooms white blossoms in the springtime. This colony-forming perennial plant spreads through underground rhizomes.

Individual single-stemmed plants will reach 12 to 18 inches tall, and each bears 1 or 2 giant leaves. This plant will thrive best in partly to full shade, humus-rich moist soils in zones 3 to 9.