The Perennial Plant Association honors one special plant annually with the title Perennial of the Year, and this honor has raised the attention of gardeners to some of our most valuable garden flowers. These include the Becky Shasta daisy, Goldsturm rudbeckia, David phlox, Rozanne geranium and many others that are essentials of flower beds in the Piedmont.
Now comes the winner for 2012: Jack Frost brunnera.
Its attributes are wonderful: Light blue flowers in spring, silvery leaves with distinctive green veins, a tolerance for shade and a low, mounded shape.
All that should be more than sufficient to attract interest in this brunnera as gardeners shop for perennials this winter and spring. I am thrilled to see this honor because brunnera is not as well-known as Shasta daisies, phlox or rudbeckia.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Charlotte Observer