Brunnera - Queen of Hearts - Added to Backyard

Posted by on

The photo you see above shows a trio of Brunnera Queen of Hearts planted in the north side rear bed surrounded by some transplanted hostas in a sort of 'ring' or 'hoop' shape.  How these Brunnera got to my yard is a story about YouTube gardening and the influence of creators like Laura @ Garden Answer.  

A few weeks ago, I watched this video where she talked about 15 perennials that every garden should have that included a mention of Brunnera.  So, it was suddenly on my radar.  And, when I found myself at Home Depot on a recent visit where I came across this Queen of Hearts cultivar, I grabbed three of them and knew where I'd plant them - despite them NOT being in our plan. 

Here, below, is a look at the tag from the Proven Winners version and what it looked like in the nursery container:

As I mentioned above, the plan doesn't CALL for these, but this area is what I called Priority Area #2 from this year - the woodland area.  These are now to the east of the newly planted Weeping Nootka Falsecypress tree and - as mentioned above - is now surrounded by some divided hostas.


Walter's Garden describes Queen of Heart as a stunner with silver leaves and baby blue flowers:

This stunning foliage perennial will be the queen of the shade (and your heart). Compared to its companion plant 'Jack of Diamonds', 'Queen of Hearts' has more heart-shaped leaves and more pronounced silver overlay with narrower bands of dark green veining. From mid to late spring, baby blue, forget-me-not type blossoms are held in clusters above the foliage.

I planted these pretty far apart knowing they have a 24-28" spread and when mature they'll fill in a bunch of the space you see in the photo above.  I think this area could tolerate one more of these Brunnera planted right in the middle of this drift, but we'll see how much they cover by next Spring to decide if I augment these three with another one.

Location: Downers Grove, IL, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Be nice to each other here.

Popular posts from this blog

Lou Malnati's Salad Dressing Recipe as Published in the 60's

Posted by on
Image
Earlier this winter, I wrote about the old Lou Malnati's menu and mentioned that as I was waiting around for my pie to finish up, I spied an old Chicago Tribune article posted on the wall that included the original Lou Malnati's Italian Salad Dressing Recipe.  The Tribune reporter called it "prized".  We were set to host a little pizza party over the weekend, so I figured I'd give it a shot.  Here's the article as seen through my mobile phone's camera. I'm not a wine drinker, so the fact that the recipe called for Burgundy wine didn't strike me as odd.  I went shopping at Angelo Caputos in Addison - a really incredible shopping experience - and when I got to the wine section I found Burgundy wine was carried ONLY in those HUGE jugs.  And they were dirt cheap.  The only issue is that needed just 4 ounces.  We ended up with a whole-lotta-wine that Nat won't drink. I've taken the recipe and modified it a bit by eliminating the percentage...
Read more

Tom Thayer's Italian Beef Recipe

Posted by on
Image
TOM’S TAILGATER ITALIAN BEEF COURTESY OF Steve Dahl  and  DAHL.COM Ingredients: One 3 ½ to 4 pound boneless beef chuck pot roast One package of Zesty Italian Salad Dressing and Recipe Mix One 16 oz. jar of hot giardiniera One 16 oz. jar of mild giardiniera One dozen baguettes (French rolls) Directions: In a four-quart Crock-Pot, pour in one bottle of giardiniera. Place the roast on top of the layer of giardiniera. Sprinkle the salad dressing mixture on top of the roast. Add the second bottle of giardiniera to the top of the roast. Cover Crock-Pot and cook on high for 6 to 8 hours. When fork tender, shred the roast in the Crock-Pot and allow it to combine with the other ingredients. Slice the baguettes in half and pile on the beef and giardiniera mixture. ------------------------------------ For the babe's baptism party, we hosted a collection of family and friends back at our house after the church proceedings. We ordered some of t...
Read more

Overwintering Disneyland Roses With Leaf Mulch - Floribunda Roses - December 2024

Posted by on
Image
Yesterday, I posted photos of how I'm attempting to overwinter some Dahlia tubers in the ground and in a couple of those pics, you might have peeked at the chicken wire cages next to the piles of mulch on the dahlia tubers.  Those chicken wire cages are full of fallen leaves and are set on top of the three Disneyland Rose crowns along the southside of our house. See below for a couple of photos showing how I set up the ring of chicken wire and filled it with mulched-up leaves: These roses struggled this year, so here's hoping this little bit of extra Winter protection is going to help them get through the cold.
Read more