I’m growing brunnera in my shade garden this season. I picked up this lovely Proven Winners’ “Queen of Hearts” from the Georgia Perennial Plants Symposium and auction a couple years ago and planted it in my part shade garden next to its color companion, Japanese painted fern. Together, their silvery foliage, veining and feathery textures beautifully blended in a very busy corner of the shade border.
My Atlanta-area garden is on the southernmost edge of Queen of Hearts’ comfort zone. She prefers chilly winters and moderate summers in zones 3 to 8. In 2023, USDA shifted my area’s hardiness zone from 7b to 8a. Two years into our relationship, Queen of Hearts seems to be happy.
During her first winter, I let her die back to the ground and let the naturally fallen leaf litter cover her crown. In that December of ’23, the polar vortex took out quite a few newly-planted and vulnerable perennials. Queen of Hearts was reluctant to emerge in spring, so I dug up the crown and placed it in a nursery pot in mid-spring. By summer, the Queen was back to her usual silvery self. I think in my garden, she’s a container plant.
This year, I repotted the Queen in a larger pot and popped nasturtium seeds along the rim of the pot. The Queen will be surrounded by a crown of jewel-toned flowers and cascades of celadon foliage.
Brunnera Blooms
In her first year in my garden, Queen of Hearts sent out sweet petite blue blooms, reminiscent of forget-me-nots, or the native bluets scattered along the edge of my woods. Here’s hoping my queen will decree that this will be the year of blooms.
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