Lamium maculatum 'White Nancy' (Spotted deadnettle)

(1 user review)

With 2-inch-long, serrated leaves of white edged with dark green, these dainty trailers make great ground covers or cascaders. ‘Pink Chablis’ sports silvery  gray leaves and have flowers that range from white to shades of purple and pink.

This plant looks like someone splattered silver paint on it. Each leaf forms a long, prickly haired lance (some showing a pale green underside). Overlapping occurs as the plant expands, creating a lazy pattern of swirls. In spring, clusters of silky pink flowers fade to a soft blue that complements the plant’s bluish undertones.

‘Plum Pudding’ has purple foliage that is lighter than many other burgundy heucheras, and its leaves are marbled with silvery highlights. It forms a uniform, dense mound with airy sprays of small white flowers in early summer. If you keep the soil from drying out, then the foliage will shimmer through the cold months in mild winters.

Heuchera make excellent foliage plants for sun to part shade gardens. Most flowers are not as impressive as the foliage, but they do add a second level of interest.

Creeping myrtle has a reputation for being a tough evergreen ground cover for shade that will grow in almost any soil. Though the leaves of the species are a shiny dark green, the leaves of ‘Illumination’ are vividly splashed with a bright gold color. The 1-inch-wide periwinkle blue flowers that open against the brilliant foliage are a bonus. This plant makes for a striking ground-hugging mat and is also spectacular in hanging baskets.