Asarum canadense, Wild Ginger. While grown primarily for it’s heart-shaped foliage, wild ginger makes small maroon-brown flowers that hug the ground in early spring.These blooms give the plant another name: Little Brown Jugs. The creeping rhizome was candied and used like commercial ginger, which is unrelated. Wild ginger forms a fine ground cover for shady spots, especially under deciduous trees such as oaks, maples etc. The plants do well in many soil types but prefer not to remain bone dry for long. Since it is a ground cover, do not plant it too close to other plants that are smaller; give it some room. The thick rhizome should be planted barely below the soil’s surface, with the thinner roots going downward several inches. Wild Ginger loses all its leaves when over stressed or when freezing weather approaches. Height reaches about six inches.