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A Rather Shady Affair
By
Donna Evans
One of the most challenging tasks for any homeowner is finding those perfect
plants for the shade garden or north side of the house. Whenever teaching home
landscape design classes I am always bombarded with requests to suggest a few
plants that are not only attractive but will flourish in shady areas and
woodland sites.
Here come those fabulous Brunnera to the rescue. They tend to form 12 inch to
18 inch high mounds that are 18 inches 24 inches wide with baby blue to lavender
forget-me-not type flowers occurring in late spring to early summer and lasting
up to four weeks. They typically have heart shaped shaped leaves, some with
yellow margins, some with silver spots and still others with silverfish
overlays. They all have one thing in common, they are attractive not only when
blooming but all season long. They are capable of making a statement as an
accent plant or as a solid groundcover, and best of all they handle a lot of
shade. I have grown them under our Jack Pines and along the north side of our
foundation with equal success. Best of all the leaves hold well into the late
fall. We have a Jack Frost Brunnera against our foundation that still exhibited
gorgeous foliage two weeks after the leaves from the adjacent hostas had frozen
back for the year.
Brunnera tend to be very forgiving and are generally rated for zones 3 - 8.
They will not tolerate too much sun or heat, however, so protect them. These
plants prefer soils that have good drainage. One of the things that I always
recommend with most plantings is what I refer to as "a $100 hole for a $10
plant". By this I mean that the best time to influence the health and long term
vigor of a plant is at the time of planting. A good rule of thumb is to dig your
planting hole at least twice as wide as the plant rootball itself, and
preferably three times as wide. I always then backfill around the plant with a
mix of 1/3 native soil, 1/3 good quality screened topsoil, and 1/3 organic
matter such as sphagnum peat moss. I employ this same procedure with the
Brunnera I plant.
Following are four of my favorite Brunnera varieities:
1. Brunnera macrophylla 'Hadspen Cream' has heart shaped shaped leaves with
green centers flanked by irregular yellow margins. It is absolutely beautiful
and brightens the foggiest, shadiest day.
2. .Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost' is one that I have specified for several
years as a groundcover par excellence. It has strong green leaf veins and a
wonderful silverfish overlay. Get ready for the compliments from your guests.
3. Brunnera macrophylla 'Langtrees' has numerous irregular white to silver spots
between the veins on the outer half of the leaves.
4. Brunnera macrophylla 'Looking Glass' has heart shaped leaves that cup
downward and are a rather solid silver in color. I have ordered 25 for my own
gardens for this coming spring.
All of the Brunnera mix well with other shade tolerant plants. I always like
to see them planted in clusters of 3, 5, 7 and so forth. Many times I will
specify the Jack Frost massed in front of Krossa Regal or Blue Angel Hostas. The
size and color contrast makes for a striking bed. Dress the bed up with some
Lamium maculatum 'Purple Dragon' or 'Pink Pewter' creeping in front for an added
treat.
Brunnera are also terrific for setting off a bed of Taunton Yew used as a
backdrop. I also like to mix in an occasional Fanal or Etna Astilbe for a splash
of red for contrast and to accentuate the unusual foliage of the Brunnera.
Finally, the most breathtaking shade bed I have ever seen was the simplest.
It was a mass planting of Jack Frost Brunnera acting as the groundcover beneath
three wonderful five stem clump Whitespire birches. There were a few very large
character boulders imbedded for additional accent.
Whatever you choose for your shade bed, just don't overlook those incredible
Brunnera. Those challenges and frustrations created by the shade will simply
melt away as your success rate soars. Happy landscaping!
Donna Evans is co-owner of Gizmo Creations LLC, a landscape design and
website design company located just north of Brainerd, Minnesota. Gizmo
Creations designs landscapes for homeowners, commercial buildings and landscape
contractors throughout the country. Gizmo Creations has numerous sample plans
and photos of landscapes on their website at
http://www.gizmocreations.com.
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