Year-Round Beauty from an Easy Shade Lover!
This native plant offers variegated foliage, blooms, and fall/winter color changes!
Plant Patent #12,335. Anyone who dismisses native American perennials as "not showy enough" has never seen Tiarella 'Crow Feather.' A year-round beauty in zones 6b and southward, even in the northernmost tip of its hardiness range it is a constantly-changing, ever-beautiful display of flower and foliage from early spring through mid-fall! The show begins when new foliage appears in spring. Deeply dissected and bright green, each leaf bears a long, feather-shaped black mark -- the 'crow feather' of its name! The variegation remains all year, turning chocolate-brown in winter but keeping its distinctive shape. In late spring, light pink blooms on fat 8- to 10-inch bloomspikes join the display, lasting into early summer and bearing a sweet fragrance. And when the weather cools in fall, the foliage turns hot pink and develops a bright red edging! Is anything in the shade garden half as colorful? You might think such a showstopper would be hard to grow, but 'Crow Feather's' native hardiness stands it in good stead through heat, humidity, drought, poor soil, and just about anything else Mother Nature can dream up. A tough and long-lasting ground cover, it makes a nice overplanting for bulbs, and is splendid in containers! Our photograph shows the autumn/winter coloration of 'Crow Feather,' but it would take a roll of film to do justice to the seasonal color changes of this delightful perennial. Plant it among the Hostas, Heucheras, Ferns, and Pulmonarias to make the shade garden sizzle! 'Crow Feather' reaches 8 to 10 inches tall and 12 to 18 inches wide in partial shade. Space plants about a foot apart for dense coverage. Hardy in zones 4-9.
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