Stachys ‘Big Ears’: colour, texture and loved by bees
Stachys byzantina ‘Big Ears’ is an attractive and useful evergreen perennial, perfect for the front or middle of a sunny mixed planting border. Forming a pleasing carpet of wooly silver-grey foliage, S. ‘Big Ears’ provides excellent weed-suppressing groundcover. Soft towers of pink/ purple flowers are abundant from early summer to mid-autumn, and are much loved by bees and butterflies.
Growing to 50cm tall and up to 75cm wide, S. ‘Big Ears’ is happiest in free-draining soils and full sun. It can cope with windy sites and is fairly drought-tolerant once it is established. It is easy to grow and doesn’t really require any essential maintenance, but established clumps can sometimes begin to look a little tired so can benefit from regular lifting and dividing in order to freshen things up.
Best used a ‘drifting’ plant to appear at regular intervals around a garden or larger border, we like to plant S. ‘Big Ears’ alongside Lavandula, Nepeta, Salvia and Verbena bonariensis.
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