Prunella grandiflora White Loveliness

The Prunella grandiflora 'White Loveliness', also known as self-heal or large-flowered self-heal, offers spikes of small, white, honey-scented flowers throughout the summer, pleasantly contrasting with its beautiful dark green foliage. This vigorous and hardy montane perennial is ideal for rock gardens or sunny borders. It spreads through creeping stems in cool, rocky, and calcareous soils, forming a semi-evergreen, very attractive ground cover that requires minimal maintenance.

Prunella grandiflora is a cousin of dead-nettles, salvias, and thymes, belonging to the mint family. It is native to mountainous areas of Central and Southern Europe, where it is found growing on calcareous soils in rocky, more or less dry environments. This semi-evergreen perennial rapidly develops from a creeping stump, producing ascending or erect stems that root at the nodes upon contact with the ground. The 'White Loveliness' variety forms a slightly spreading, branched basal clump, 15 to 20 cm (6 to 8in) high, slowly spreading over time. Flowering takes place from May-June to August-September depending on the climate. The plant bears short, compact spikes of bilabiate flowers, 2 cm (1in) wide, in pure white, standing distinctly above its foliage. This honey-scented flowering attracts numerous pollinating insects. The leaves are ovate, villous, 3 cm (1in) wide, petiolate, entire or dentate, strongly veined, in a beautiful dark green colour.

With its compact and branched habit, the 'White Loveliness' self-heal is perfect as ground cover, in borders, rock gardens, or even in containers and pots. The only condition for successful cultivation is to choose a cool, well-drained soil. This self-heal also performs well in partially shaded positions, under trees or bushes, alongside varieties such as 'Loveliness' (mauve-lavender) or 'Pink Loveliness' (soft pink), or even with perennial geraniums like macrorrhizum. It can also be combined with alpine plants such as androsaces, Dianthus erinaceus, erodiums, or cinereum perennial geranium.