Plant guide: Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’
Brunnera macruphylla ‘Jack Frost’ is an eye-catching groundcover plant, grown for its silver heart-shaped leaves, with delicate green veins and margins. In Spring, it is covered with tiny forget-me-not like blue flowers, held on dark, wiry stems above the leaves. It’s deciduous, so dies back completely below the ground in the Winter months.
Brunnera is a low-maintenance plant that hardly needs any attention, but these tips will help it to shine year-round.
Botanical name: Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’
Plant type: Herbaceous perennial. Brunnera is a foliage plant that dies back over the winter months below the ground, and will re-emerge in Spring.
(For more about different plant types, so our guide Plant types explained)
Growing conditions: An unfussy plant, Brunnera does well in full shade, to part shade, though it can also cope in sunnier spots too. It’s perfect as groundcover, growing at the front of a bed or border, or in a woodland garden.
Brunnera and ferns are natural partners, both doing well in a shady spot
The small blue flowers of Brunnera resemble forget-me-nots
The striking white leaves and green veins of ‘Jack Frost’ make this our favourite Brunnera to plant
How to plant:
Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’ is a popular cultivar and is easy to find in most garden centres and nurseries as a container grown plant.
It establishes quickly, so it’s usually best to go for a smaller pot (9cm is a good starting size) and let it bulk out over the first year growing.
To plant a container grown plant, dig a hole to the depth of the pot and twice as wide. Gently release the plant from the pot, and place in the hole. Back fill and gently firm in. Water well. For more detailed info, see our guide Planting out container grown plants.
This is a plant that is very easy to propagate by division, so if you have friends with it in the garden, you could ask for a clump for your garden! It can be divided every two to three years. Simply dig out the plant, taking care to dig deep enough to include most of the roots. With a sharp spade, slice in half. Replant one half in the original position, and the new half can be planted in a new spot.
If you’re planting a clump division, rather than a container plant, dig the hole to the depth of the roots, and then just fill in around the plant. As ever, water well while it establishes.
Care:
Brunnera is a low-maintenance plant, which doesn’t need a huge amount of care.
Water well for the first year after it is planted, while it gets established. After that, once the plant is well-rooted, it can cope better with any dry spells, though this is a plant that prefers moisture, so it would definitely appreciate a good water in hot Summer months.
It doesn’t need any regular maintenance pruning, however do look out for any fully green leaves (without the silver topside). This is known as “reversion” and if they are left on the plant, they will eventually take over, and it will return to green – instead of silver. If you see any green leaves, cut back right to the base of the plant to prevent this happening.
Mulch in Spring to conserve moisture around the plant.
Grow with:
Brunnera looks great alongside other shade-loving foliage plants. Try ones with different shaped leaves for contrast, such as feathery-leaved ferns or delicate astilbe.
As it is low-growing to the ground, Brunnera can also make a great foil to set off taller flowering plants, and looks amazing underneath colourful bulbs such as tulips, alliums or daffodils.
Closely related:
We almost always plant the glorious ‘Jack Frost’ if we’re using Brunnera, but we’ve recently found a beautiful-looking new cultivar that we’re excited to try out, called Brunnera macrophylla ‘Betty Bowring,’ which has plain green leaves but pure white flowers. We’ll be trialling it next year to see how it does…
