Description
Lamium maculatum ‘White Nancy’
Lamium maculatum ‘White Nancy’ is a beam of bright light in the shaded garden.
Beam of white light in the shaded garden
‘White Nancy’ blooms with spikes of white hooded flowers, stacked beautifully above the silver frosted foliage.
So she creates a carpet of cool elegance and light in the darker places of the garden.
‘White Nancy’ has an exceptionally long blooming period as well.
With the spires of hooded white flowers beginning in mid-spring, continuing to pop up through summer, and then usually repeating again when the weather cools for autumn.
(Scroll down to “Growing” section for plant details, how / where to grow)
“Shade Expert” ground-cover
The foliage of Lamium maculatum ‘White Nancy’ is a treat of silver and frost, with a fine green margin to each leaf.
And it easily forms a dense, weed-proof carpet under trees and shrubs, where it loves to be.
Growing from the Deep shade amongst the roots of trees, to the Partial Shade at the edge, or in Dappled Woodland conditions.
Lamium does not mind if the shade is evergreen and perrnanant, or if it is deciduous and only there in the summer.
Water-wise in shade
Lamiums are water-wise plants once established in their shaded territory. After that, normal, average garden watering is more than enough. They can also stretch out the time between drinks and tolerate periods of dry quite well. But it does not enjoy summer humidity.
Hardy & easy groundcover to beat the weeds
‘White Nancy’ is a very easy grower..
She is excellent for keeping weeds down, as ‘White Nancy’ makes roots as she creeps along, though she is not invasive.
If she ambles beyond her allotted space, she is very easy to weed back and keep in bounds.
Growing: Lamium maculatum ‘White Nancy’
– Height with flowers: Spikes of white flowers to 15cm. approx. and they sit jauntily above the flat carpet of silver foliage.
– Width: ‘White Nancy’ will quickly carpet out to a diameter of approx. 75-90cm. But it is not invasive.
– Position: Loves to creep about in the shadows, and will happily carpet in all types of shade – from Deep Shade to Partial Shade, Dappled Shade and Woodland conditions.
However it is also heat hardy, though she does not enjoy summer humidity.
Hardy & easy groundcover
– Soil: Lamiums seem to be completely unfussy about soil type. So they can grow happily in all types from sandy, through loam, to clay. Similarly they will happily take to a range of soil pH, from acid woodlands soils to alkaline (limestone) soils.
– Frost: ‘White Nancy’ is extremely frost hardy, and survives in hard frosts to at least -20C.
– Growth: Evergreen carpeting perennial groundcover.
Low maintenance
– Water wise: Lamiums are water-wise plants once established in their shaded territory. After that, normal, average garden watering is more than enough. They can also stretch out the time between drinks and tolerate periods of dry quite well. But they do not enjoy summer humidity.
– Care: ‘White Nancy’ is exceptionally low maintenance with the only possible work being to weed her out if she oversteps the space you allocate. She is virtually pest and disease free.
Other benefits
– Beneficial for wildlife: Lamium maculatum flowers are a feast for bees. And when you peer into the shape of the flower hoods, you can see hoods are perfectly designed to be bee shaped and bee sized. The bees love burrowing under the hoods, and they cant help but come away loaded with nectar and covered in pollen.
The long blooming season of Lamium also ensures the bees have food on tap for months.
– Fragrance: I am afraid not. In fact the leaves have a rather unpleasant scent when crushed. But at least this prevents the rabbits and deer from eating them.
– Deer & Rabbit resistant: With all that lovely foliage, you would expect rabbits and deer to fall upon the smorgasbord. But instead the pests find them distasteful. Even slugs and snails are not interested.
– Origin: Lamium maculatum has an incredibly wide native range, from the cool of northern Europe to the heat of Turkey and Portugal, through the Middle East, and even over to western China. No wonder it is such a hardy and adaptable little plant.
