Lunaria annua var.albiflora 'Alba Variegata'
(Honesty 'Alba Variegata')
Family - Brassicaceae
Category - Annual, biennial
Season of Interest - Spring, Summer, Autumn
Hardiness - H6
Height - 60cm
Width - 30cm
Location - The Pond Garden
Description: A clump-forming annual or Biennial with a bushy, upright habit. Ovate to heart-shaped leaves have pointed tips and coarsely toothed margins. The leaves are mid-green with irregular, creamy-white variegation around the margins. Cross-shaped flowers are snow-white. The Blooms are held in upright panicles and produced from late spring into early summer. Attractive to pollinating insects. Honesty is often grown for the attractive, papery, translucent seedheads that are rounded in shape and silvery in colour. The seedheads are excellent for drying if cut while still green.
Award of Garden Merit (AGM).
The genus name Lunaria is a reference to the moon-like appearance of the seedheads.
Flower:
Cruciform flowers are snow-white. The flowers are held in upright panicles and produced in May and June. The flowers are followed by attractive, papery seedheads that are translucent, rounded in shape and silvery in colour. Lunaria annua (and forms) are renowned for the seedheads which are excellent for drying if cut while still green.
Flower colour: White
Flower shape: Cruciform flowers held in panicles
Flowering time: May, June
Foliage:
Cordate to ovate leaves with pointed tips are mid-green with irregular, creamy-white variegation around the margins. The leaf margins are Dentate. The leaves can be held in opposite pairs or Alternately arranged on the upright stems. The foliage remains Evergreen over the winter when grown as a Biennial.
Foliage Senescence: Deciduous to evergreen
Foliage Shape: Cordate to ovate
Propagation:
Seed.
Cultivation:
Best in full sun to partial shade in fertile, moisture-retentive soil that is well-drained.