A Great Plant for Shade Gardens - Varigated Persicaria or Tovara

'Painter's Palette' Persicaria photo from Moose Crossing Garden Center

For the last 4 years, I have been creating an enchanting woodland garden for a favorite client.

It is a shady site that is very wet.  A challenge indeed.

In the course of planting up this garden I recently discovered:

  Persicaria virginiana varigata (or Tovara)
from Forest Farm Nursery

Tovara virginiana, is an easy to grow perennial plant (hardy from zones 4 to  8) that thrives in shade and offers eye catching foliage color. It grows to 28  inches tall and spreads by means of underground stems. Each leaf has a different variegation pattern of green and white. The cultivar 'Painters Palette' has maroon markings as well.    Tovara has good drought tolerance and is ideal for mass plantings where its showy color and bold leaf size make a punchy display in shady recesses.
It is clump-forming but can spread rapidly.  It self seeds like mad and should be cut to the ground each fall. The best planting location is medium shade in relatively fertile soil that can be watered during dry spells.

'Painters Palette' has straight, red stems that make beautiful cuttings in flower arrangements.

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