Stachys byzantina (syn. s. lanata) 'SILVER CARPET'

When you mention lamb to any kid the first thing he or she will probably recall is Shaun, and right after its delicate young fur. Kids love to cuddle young animals especially when they are so cute and downy. Just like the leaves of this perennial whose name was chosen aptly: lamb’s ears. Soft and velvety exactly like young lamb’s ears. Its specific epithet byzantina refers to its origin and natural occurrence in the eastern Mediterranean from the Caucasus to Iran.

Silver Carpet is a valued selection of lamb’s ears which produces masses of velvety soft foliage on fast-growing plants that will soon form an impenetrable carpet. The leaves are narrowly obovate, pale green covered with a profusion of silvery hairs. They are evergreen in mild winters. Just remove old leaves after a bad winter and a couple of times during the growing season to keep it tidy and handsome. Silver Carpet does not produce many flowers. Only seldom it makes a wooly stem about 30 cm long topped with congested spikes of buds which almost never burst to flowers. You can remove the entire stems as soon as they appear to maintain the mounding and ground-covering habit of the plant.

You can use it in rockeries, dry borders, on dry walls, or, like we did, on the edge of a raised bed, where its beautiful leaves completely covered the unattractive concrete structure. It likes the company of stonecrops, houseleeks, iceplants, lewisias and hyssops, and its silvery color is so neutral that it doesn't clash with any other flower in the bed.

Lamb’s ears comes from dry to rocky locations with mostly limey soil so similar conditions will guarantee good growth in your garden. The soil must be perfectly drained and neutral or alkaline (do not use peat). It prefers full sun where it will form nice clumps that will reliably spread with short, above-ground runners into handsome and thick colonies. It does not like fertilizing or watering. Hardy to min. -34 °C (USDA zone 4).

Last update: 21-12-2022