Blue flowers and green and white variegated leaves of Brunnera macrophylla 'Alchemy Pewter' (Siberian bugloss)

Happy in the Shade: Brunnera

Posted on by Ann Mackay

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Here are more tiny flowers from my garden, again they’re blue. (I’m sure you’re not surprised, given my love of blue and purple.) This week’s plant is Brunnera macrophylla ‘Alchemy Pewter’ (also known as Siberian bugloss). You may be thinking that its flowers look very like forget-me-not (Mysotis) and you’d be right, because they are closely related. Brunnera and Mysotis are both members of the borage family, as is the Pulmonaria from last week’s post.

Brunnera’s blue flowers are very pretty and an excellent source of pollen and nectar for bees and other pollinators. But it’s the leaves (shown below) that these plants are most frequently grown for. They can be very attractive indeed, with popular cultivars having heart-shaped leaves with strong silvery variegations on a bright green background. Some plants have leaves that are almost entirely silver.

There are other colours, however. You can find green-leaved cultivars such as ‘Betty Bowring’, which has white flowers, or golden-leaved plants, including ‘Diane’s Gold’. Then there’s the self-explanatory ‘Variegata’, whose green leaves are splashed with a soft creamy white. But, to me, these are not as lovely as the plants with silver-variegated leaves.

After seeing brunnera’s beautiful leaves in a garden that I visited, I was inspired to try growing it in a shady spot in my own garden. It’s a plant that prefers a moist soil, so I have to be vigilant and take care to water it when the ground gets very dry. So far it is looking good, but I have my fingers crossed for it to survive if we have a very hot summer! 🍃

The variegated leaves of Brunnera macrophylla 'Alchemy Pewter'
The variegated leaves of Brunnera macrophylla ‘Alchemy Pewter’
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Published by Ann Mackay

Photographer, mixed-media art adventurer and completely daft about plants.......

23 thoughts on “Happy in the Shade: Brunnera”

  4. This particular variety has had a lot of TV coverage lately and one I’ve put on my wish list. Although my shaded area is generally dry I do hope vigilant watering would suffice to it’s needs.

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    1. I’m very happy with this one so far, especially considering that the conditions it’s living in aren’t ideal. (It can get very hot and dry here, with no rainfall for weeks.) I will have to make sure it gets enough water!

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  5. ‘Bugloss’ is a word that always stops me. It seems so odd, and always makes me think of something like a waxed-and-glossy beetle! So, I finally looked it up, and got the explanation. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, Bugloss is the “popular name of several small plants, 1530s, from French buglosse, from Latin buglossa, from Greek bouglossos, literally “ox-tongued.” So called from the shape and texture of its leaves.”

    That’s ever so much better as an explanation, and I must say I think the leaves are as attractive as the flowers.

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    1. It sounds as if it should be some sort of insect-repellant plant, like ‘fleabane’. I’d never have thought of ‘ox-tongued’, but it does describe the leaves of this particular cultivar. (Some cultivars are much more rounded.) Interesting detective work! 🙂

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    1. It’s a great plant to have already thriving with you…I can see that you and the bees will be very happy! I’m hoping to be able to get more of it established here 🙂

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    1. This one does have quite long and pointy leaves, so they are the shape of a cow’s tongue, but there are other cultivars that have much more heart-shaped leaves now too. Borage certainly isn’t boring, especially if you’re a bee! 🙂

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  8. These are lovely. Unlike you, I’m not a plant expert, but I was pleased when my first thought was “forget-me-not,” except for the leaves.

    In my (older) wildflower guide, Colorado’s native Alpine Forget-Me-Not, Eritrichium nanum, has a different genus name, from your forget-me-nots, Myosotis; it seems to have been renamed to Myosotis nanum since then. I also found it interesting to learn that Europe’s and America’s alpine forget-me-nots are not identical.

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      1. They are pretty and it’s wonderful to come across them in their alpine habitat high in the mountains. Because they are so pretty, there are cultivars that also thrive at lower elevations and many people plant them in their gardens.

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    1. I agree completely – it looks great and grows in the shade, so it’s very useful. As a bonus, the flowers are early, so they’re around for bees and pollinators at a time when there are fewer flowers here.

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