Lamium: 5 varieties with decorative foliage
A selection of bright varieties for shady corners.
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Lamium, or lamiums, are evergreen groundcover perennials with their delicate flowers reminiscent of nettles, which appear from late spring to mid-summer, and their lush foliage that brightens shady corners. Many lamiums feature variegated, golden or silvery foliage, as seen in Lamium maculatum, also known as ‘spotted or blotched lamiums’, or Lamium galeobdolon or ‘golden lamiums’. Semi-evergreen in some climates, they quickly form a compact, dense carpet in cool, moist soil and shade, where they bring a touch of light and whimsy. These charming groundcovers, particularly hardy (to -34°C), require no maintenance and are perfect for edging borders or dressing the base of a shrub clump. Here are a few lamium varieties with decorative foliage! And discover our beautiful collection of lamiums!
Lamium maculatum 'Sterling Silver'
Lamium maculatum ‘Sterling Silver’ is a remarkable variety for its foliage, with superb metallic grey-silver hues. The dentate, puckered, ovate leaves, 2–3 cm wide, feature a bright silver centre edged with dark green margins. This combination produces a striking, shimmering contrast. The foliage is semi-evergreen and will retain its colour year-round, provided winters are mild, bringing welcome brightness to woodland shade. From May to August, mauve-pink flowers, wolf-mouth-shaped, crown this charming pale carpet. This groundcover forms a creeping tuft no more than 20 cm tall. A woodland plant, it will appreciate shaded positions and humus-bearing, cool, well-drained soils, and will blend in as a small touch in a border with other shade-loving perennials such as Epimedium, which echo its white or pink tones.
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Deadnettle: planting, pruning and careLamium maculatum 'Golden Nuggets'
The variety ‘Golden Nuggets’ is unique for its spectacular golden foliage. This lamium astonishes with its broad leaves almost entirely golden, in chartreuse-green tones, simply crossed at their centre by a silver midrib. Like all variegated lamiums, it rewards us with two-tone foliage. This golden tint, particularly vivid in light, intensifies in gentle sunshine. The pink-lilac nettle flowers that appear continuously from May to September add a touch of softness, rising above the clump of foliage and providing a striking contrast. It forms a carpet about 20 cm high by 50 cm wide. Where other plants struggle to thrive, this lamium lights up shaded and neglected corners of the garden with its golden glow, and its vigorous growth makes it an excellent choice as groundcover in a woodland, a forgotten corner, or along the border of a dark path. Its golden foliage will harmonise with the purplish-rose variegation enhanced by silver and the tiny pink bells of Heuchera ‘Georgia Plum’.
The Lamium maculatum 'Purple Dragon'
Well known to the general public, this reliable choice is simply indispensable! The Lamium maculatum ‘Purple Dragon’ is endowed with wonderful qualities: it has original variegated foliage, displaying a bright silvery-green colour, adorned with a delicate white-silver mark at the centre of each leaf. And when from spring to summer, small flowers of a pinkish-purple emerge, it takes on its full measure, revealing its splendour. This lamium grows in a carpet 15 to 20 cm tall. It helps to create pretty elegant tufts at the front of borders, in a ribbon or in small touches. In sun that is not scorching and in moist soil, at the foot of trees, on the woodland edge or in a cool border, it will pair nicely with Japanese Anemone ‘Bressingham Glow’ which flowers in the same palette of tones.
Lamium ‘Purple Dragon’ (© Katya)
Lamium maculatum 'Beacon Silver'
With foliage of an unusually coloured hue, the Lamium maculatum ‘Beacon Silver’ lives up to its name. Its triangular leaves display a large silvery, almost white centre marginate with pale green. It will be superb in partial shade, adding an elegant originality to your woodland borders. This very bright carpet is enlivened from May to August with small, but abundant, magenta-pink flowers which contrast nicely with the leaves. This variety is perfect for brightening shaded areas in the garden, thanks to its silvery foliage that reflects light. Its distinctive character will make it particularly striking in woodland settings, where it will readily pair with other perennials with metallic reflections, such as Heuchera ‘Prince of Silver’, for example in textures and colour combinations.
Lamium maculatum ‘Beacon Silver’ (©Carol VanHook)
The Lamium galeobdolon 'Hermann's Pride'
Also known as “yellow archangel”, the Lamium galeobdolon ‘Hermann’s Pride’ is as striking for the brightness of its foliage as for its sunny flowering. Cette variété affiche des petites feuilles vertes finement veinées d’argenté. Le feuillage a une texture presque froissée, lui donnant un aspect unique. Elle étonne et ravit également par ses fleurs jaune vif qui apparaissent au printemps, ajoutant un attrait supplémentaire. Cette vivace couvre-sol se plait à l’ombre fraîche, tolère le soleil léger et s’illumine de ses fleurs aussi délicates que celles des orties, venant en contrepoint chromatique du feuillage vert strié d’argent. Le Lamier doré (Lamiastrum galeobdolon) est une vivace beaucoup plus tapissante que les autres espèces de lamiers qui colonise rapidement l’espace qu’on lui laisse et pousse très bien au pied des arbres même en situation sèche. Ce lamier est particulièrement adapté pour les zones boisées ou les jardins de sous-bois, où il se propage lentement, offrant une couverture homogène sans devenir envahissante, car cette variété possède un port plus compact que le type. Le motif veiné argenté de ses feuilles et sa floraison jaune en font une variété prisée pour ceux qui cherchent à ajouter une touche de gaieté dans les zones fraîches et ombragées du jardin. Au printemps, vous pourrez ainsi l’associer à des bulbes de narcisses, et à l’Asarum epigynum ‘Takasago Saishin’, un superbe couvre-sol persistant au feuillage fortement marbré de gris-argenté sur fond vert.
Lamium ‘Hermann’s Pride’ (©Andrey Zharkikh)
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