Ajuga x tenorii Chocolate Chip

Truly unique, 'Ajga tenorii 'Chocolate Chip' is a hybrid variety also known as Ajuga 'Valfredda'. This compact and robust perennial proves to be a very effective groundcover. It forms spreading clumps composed of numerous small narrow leaves, chocolate-coloured in winter and spring, taking on a green-purple hue for the rest of the year. This bugle blooms in late spring, with short spikes of intensely blue lavender flowers that are very bright. It tolerates occasional trampling and can be mown like a lawn after flowering. Perfect in slightly wild areas of the garden, but also in containers and flower beds. It can be grown in shade, partial shade, or mild sunlight, in moist soil.

The 'Chocolate Chip' bugle is a hybrid obtained in Italy through the cross-breeding of Ajuga reptans, a very common perennial in Europe, also found in Western Asia and Algeria. This plant belongs to the mint family, Lamiaceae. With slower growth than most, 'Chocolate Chip' is a compact and vigorous variety that forms mounds 5 to 10 cm (2 to 4in) high, composed of small leaves that are very different from more common varieties. They are oval and elongated, shiny, and their diameter does not exceed 1.3 cm (1in). It produces stoloniferous stems that root themselves, allowing it to eventually form a carpet with a minimum diameter of 1 m (3ft). Its evergreen leaves become chocolate in colour during the coldest months, then turn green, appearing variegated with purple. From May-June, short spikes 8 cm (3in) tall appear above the foliage, composed of small flowers of intense lavender blue. They bloom for over a month.

Ajuga x tenorii 'Valfredda' is an excellent ground cover, capable of preventing the growth of weeds. It is so robust that it can be planted in large groups, in low-traffic areas of the garden or more sporadically in a meadow where it will flower in spring. Its petite size makes this variety suitable for planting between stepping stones, in wall crevices, or in other small spaces. It is also useful for erosion control on slopes and embankments. Bugles are among the best groundcover plants; they are perfect for dressing the base of trees and bushes, in pots or shaded borders in combination with spring bulbs, dead nettles, and fairy flowers (Epimedium). In fresh rockeries, they can be planted alongside 'Blue Haze' or buchananii Acaena, 'Nana' Azorella trifurcata, lady's mantles, and saxifrages.