Prunella webbiana Rosea - Self-heal

The Prunella (x) webbiana 'Rosea' is a hybrid variety of self-heal, very similar to the large-flowered self-heal but slightly taller. This perennial forms a beautiful, vigorous ground cover with long, dark green, semi-evergreen foliage, covered in spikes of light pink flowers in summer. This montane hybrid perennial is a vigorous and hardy plant, spreading through creeping stems in cool, rocky, and calcareous soils. This slightly taller variety is ideal for rockeries, borders, and the front of sunny flower beds. It requires very little maintenance.

The Prunella (x) webbiana 'Rosea' is related to dead nettles, salvias, and thymes, belonging to the mint family. Its two parents, Prunella grandiflora and Prunella grandiflora subsp. pyrenaica, are native to mountainous areas of central and southern Europe, where they grow on limestone soils in rocky and more or less dry environments. This semi-evergreen perennial quickly develops from a creeping stem, producing ascending or erect stems that root at the nodes upon contact with the ground. The 'Rosea' variety forms a spreading, ramified basal clump, 20 to 30 cm (8 to 12in) tall, slowly spreading over time. Flowering occurs from May-June to August-September depending on the climate. The plant produces tightly packed spikes of 2 cm (1in) wide flowers, in a fresh light pink colour with hints of mauve, noticeably above its foliage. This nectar-rich flowering attracts numerous pollinating insects. The leaves are elongated, ovate, villous, 3 cm (1in) wide, petiolate, entire or toothed, strongly veined, in a beautiful dark green shade.

With its vigorous and ramified habit, the 'Rosea' hybrid self-heal is perfect as a ground cover, in borders, rockeries, or even in containers and pots. The only requirement 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 'White Loveliness', white, or even with perennial geraniums like macrorrhizum. It can also be associated with alpine plants such as androsaces, Dianthus erinaceus, erodiums, or perennial cinereum geranium.