Stachys byzantina (syn. s. lanata) 'SILVER CARPET' lamb's ears
size/type
low or groundcovering,low perennial
usual height
0,3-0,4m
usual width
0,3-0,4m
leaves
evergreen broadleaf
flowers
insignificant or non-blooming
colour of flowers
location
full sun
soil type
neutral to alkaline
soil moisture requirements
dry and sharply drained (xeriscape)
USDA zone (lowest)
4 (down to -34°C)
winter protection
for zone 5+6
for zone 7
categorized
Stachys
When you mention lamb to any kid the first thing he or she will probably recall is Shaun, and right after its delicate young fur. Kids love to cuddle young animals especially when they are so cute and downy. Just like the leaves of this perennial whose name was chosen aptly: lamb’s ears. Soft and velvety exactly like young lamb’s ears. Its specific epithet byzantina refers to its origin and natural occurrence in the eastern Mediterranean from the Caucasus to Iran.Description of the plant:
Silver Carpet is a valued selection of lamb’s ears which produces masses of velvety soft foliage on fast-growing plants that will soon form an impenetrable carpet. The leaves are narrowly obovate, pale green covered with a profusion of silvery hairs. They are evergreen in mild winters. Just remove old leaves after a bad winter and a couple of times during the growing season to keep it tidy and handsome. Silver Carpet does not produce many flowers. Only seldom it makes a wooly stem about 30 cm long topped with congested spikes of buds which almost never burst to flowers. You can remove the entire stems as soon as they appear to maintain the mounding and ground-covering habit of the plant.You can use it in rockeries, dry borders, on dry walls, or, like we did, on the edge of a raised bed, where its beautiful leaves completely covered the unattractive concrete structure. It likes the company of stonecrops, houseleeks, iceplants, lewisias and hyssops, and its silvery color is so neutral that it doesn't clash with any other flower in the bed.
Lamb’s ears comes from dry to rocky locations with mostly limey soil so similar conditions will guarantee good growth in your garden. The soil must be perfectly drained and neutral or alkaline (do not use peat). It prefers full sun where it will form nice clumps that will reliably spread with short, above-ground runners into handsome and thick colonies. It does not like fertilizing or watering. Hardy to min. -34 °C (USDA zone 4).
Last update: 21-12-2022
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GLOSSARY
- STANDARD QUALITY - Plants of this group are 1st class quality with number of branches and overall density adequate to their size and age, considering they were container grown.
- DE LUXE QUALITY - This label guarantees a luxurious quality of manually selected plants that, compared to their height and age, are exceptionally dense and beautiful.
- EXTRA - These plants are usually mature and bigger specimens with exceptional overall appearance.
- STANDARD (as described in the plant form) means a tree with a trunk of 190-210 cm and a crown at the top, unless specified differently. The commercial size for trees is their girth measured in the height of 1m from ground.
- HOBBY - These plants are of the same quality as our standard-quality plants but younger and therefore cheaper.
- SHRUB - a woody plant with branches growing bushy from the ground level.
- HALF-STANDARD or MINI-STANDARD - a small tree with shorter trunk, its size is usually specified.
- FEATHERED - These are trees with branches growing already from the base of the trunk and up along the stem.
- GRASSES and PERENNIALS - Sizes given usually read the diameter of the pot or the clump, as specified.
