Stachys byzantina Silver Carpet - Lambs Ears
Stachys byzantina Silver Carpet can give your perennial garden that soft almost white contrasting plant that sets off all the rest. Some folks cut off all the flower spikes as they come up. I generally give them a brief chance to show off their Purple flowers and then go purge them all, as the flowers are nice enough in their own right. Stachys byzantina foliage grows 6-8 inches tall, flowers to 18 inches and slowly spreads a few inches each year so long as there is water available. I get some recruitment of new seedlings. The Lambs Ears will go dormant where it is cold enough but are Winter hardy to most anything California can dish out. Stachys byzantina Silver Carpet looks pretty scrappy after a summer of inland heat with no help from the gardener's hose but the Lamb's Ears consistantly come back once the rains start.
Purple flowers on stalks rising above the silver foliage of Stachys byzantina Silver Carpet - Lamb's Ears. High resolution photos are part of our garden image collection.
Plant pages from the genus Stachys featured on this site:
Stachys albens * White Hedge Nettle
Stachys albotomentosa Hidalgo * Hidalgo Stachys
Stachys byzantina Silver Carpet * Lamb's Ears
Stachys chrysantha * Yellow Stachys