Shady areas of the garden are often filled with an assortment of foliage plants like ferns, hostas, camellias, or even a wonderful collections of woodland plants. Unfortunately this leaves these areas filled only with different shades of green. Now don't get me wrong, I love green. But under a tree canopy or on the north side of the house all green can make for a very dark landscape. There is the occasion blooms of azaleas and rhodys, camellias and hydrangeas, but when those plant are not in colour what going to add that pop. One solution is the featured plant Brunnera. Growing comfortable with all the traditional shade favourites Bunnera macrophylla 'Looking Glass' shines brightly even in the dullest or darkest landscape. Growing about 18' inches high and wide this plant enjoys the same conditions as most shade loving plants. It's very hardy and is not bothered by many pests. The
occasion slug well try to take a chomp on them but they don't seem to care for them. It's probably because of the course hair that covers this plants leaves.
Even in the early morning or at dust, this plant glows brightly. The foliage has a silvery white sheen that seems to reflect light. An added feature is the blue forget-me-not flowers in Spring which are very charming. Brunnera is in the Boraginaceae Family (the forget-me-not family) and is native to woodland areas of Eastern Europe.
8 comments:
What an appropriate name for this plant, Bob! I think it might be a good addition to my mostly shady and mostly green lower garden. Hope I remember this next year when I get planting fever again!
I love this one.
I have the one with the green leaves, thats pretty too.
Bob: Are you finding this plant to be vigorous or a bit slow growing? I have been keeping my eye on the specialty brunneras. They cost quite a bit more but they are lovely. I love silver and gold in shady areas!
Bob - I agree this does make a great shade plant. I had one several years ago that didn't make it through the winter. I blame the fact that I bought it from one of the big box stores and it was before the sprinker system. This year I bought a very good looking plant from one of the local nurserys and planted it under my Jones rose bush. So far so good!
Thanks for sharing and Happy Gardening.
Lostroses, Yes it's is a perfect name. I hope you purchase a few. They are really a great plant.
All the best, BOB
Marga, the green ones are very pretty and still have the beautiful blue flowers but the new hybrids are really wonderful. Thanks for stopping by, I hope to hear from you again.
Happy gardening, BOB
Layanee, mine are very vigorous but do stay in their place. Looking Glass and Jack Frost (which I'll post on in the future) are very silver. For gold some of the newer hybrid hostas are very gold, and there the newer hybrids of corydalis that have gold foliage as well golden heart dicentra (it can be aggressive) for shadier areas in the garden. Hope this helps. Thanks for the question.
All the best, BOB
Cliff, probably what effected the brunnera was the watering. They like moist soil and if they dry out they are toast. Plus in areas like yours with harsh winters I find starting with a one gallon size and getting it into the garden as early as possible helps. A good example is with mums. Those that are planted in spring always make it thru winter much better those planted in fall. Glad you got one growing for you. They are a wonderful little plant.
As always, I really appreciate you and your comments. Take Care, BOB
I have the Jack Frost Brunnera. I also have a couple of green ones (forget the names, right now). I really like them! I'm north of you. They do well in my shade, but they don't like to get extremely dry (not a problem with this year's weather!)
Has Brunnera macrophylla such as Jack Frost ever been successfully used as a house plant?
How do I prepare the Bunnera for winter. We are zone 5. Do I cvut it back
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