All the Dirt on Gardening

Brunnera is a clump forming perennial for parts of the garden where moist shade prevents other ground covers from thriving. Not only is it low-maintenance, but it has long-lasting sprays of flowers, is rabbit Brunnera Silver Heart and deer resistant. The most common name used for these plants is bugloss, from two Greek words: ox and tongue because the rough leaves looked and felt like ox tongues to the person who named it. The new hybrids look more like silver and green or cream and green hearts than ox tongues, but still have lovely clusters of flowers. The old medicinal variety, Echium vulgare or Viper’s Bugloss, is sometimes found in seed catalogs listed as Blueweed (see Richter’s Herbs www.richters.com). To see several other Echium varieties, look no further than Annie’s Annuals at http://hort.li/1qO9. Another common variety, Lycopsis arvenis, is called Small Bugloss. It has waxy, toothed leaves and its flowers are wheel shaped. Historically, Viper's Buglos...