Jack Frost Nipping At Your...Garden?

 

Today was fairly quiet which allowed me to start on my 2015 preparations.  Chuck S. stopped by as did Dr. Yahr.  With the Holiday Lights Show (HLS) set up and ready to go, I can shift gears and get ready for next year.  The HLS opens on Friday, December 12th (4:30 pm - 8 pm) and runs throughout the month.  Do check out this event on our website for more information including information on the schedule, entertainment, etc.  December through March are all too fleeting for me and while some of us get cabin fever, seasonal affective disorder, winter doldrums, etc. (myself included), I'd love another month of two of winter to get ready for spring!  Many of our 2015 plants have been ordered already although I have yet to go through seed catalogs to select varieties that we'll have our growers start for us.  We'll also start very shortly on selecting vegetable and herb varieties for our Spring Plant Sale (Mother's Day weekend in 2015).

 

This blog is a tribute to one of my favorite perennials for part shade that has always performed well for us.  The 'Jack Frost' false forget-me-not (Brunnera macrophylla) is tough as nails, deer resistant and offers early spring flowers followed immediately by showy silver foliage (15" tall).  The foliage is rarely bothered by insects or disease.  This clumping perennial is a nice accent piece in the part shade garden and also looks good in a "collective mass" as a groundcover.  There are many varieties of false forget-me-nots including those with different silver patterns, amounts of silver, leaf size and even a golden-leaved form.  I keep returning to this variety though and these pictures will show you why.  The flowers are only 2-3 weeks of the show but the foliage for us looks good in late April well in to November!