Prunella grandiflora Pink Loveliness - Self-heal

Prunella grandiflora Pink Loveliness, also known as selfheal or large-flowered selfheal, is a soft pink version of the wild type. Its compact spikes, filled with small nectar-rich flowers, adorn its beautiful velvety dark green foliage with greyish highlights from June to September. This vigorous and hardy alpine perennial is ideal for rock gardens or sunny borders. It spreads through creeping stems in damp, rocky, and limestone soils, forming a wonderful semi-evergreen groundcover that requires very little maintenance.

Prunella grandiflora is a relative of dead-nettles, salvias, and thymes, belonging to the mint family. It is native to mountainous areas of central and southern Europe, where it can be found growing on limestone soils in more or less dry rocky habitats. This semi-evergreen perennial rapidly develops from a creeping stump, producing ascending or erect stems that root at the nodes when in contact with the ground. The 'Pink Loveliness' variety forms a slightly spreading, branched basal clump, reaching a height of 15 to 20 cm (6 to 8in) and slowly spreading over time. Flowering occurs from May-June to August-September depending on the climate. The plant produces short, compact spikes of 2 cm (1in) wide flowers, above its foliage, in a fairly pale pink colour. This nectar-rich flowering attracts numerous pollinating insects. The leaves are ovate, velvety, 3 cm (1in) wide, petiolate, entire or dentate, strongly veined, in a beautiful dark green shade.

With its compact and branched habit, 'Pink Loveliness' selfheal is perfect as a groundcover in borders, rock gardens, or even in containers and pots. The only requirement for successful cultivation is to choose a damp, well-drained soil. This selfheal also performs well in semi-shaded positions, under trees or bushes, alongside varieties like Loveliness, Lavender-purple, or White Loveliness,  or even with perennial Geranium macrorrhizum for example. It can also be associated with alpine plants such as rock jasmine, Dianthus erinaceus, Crane's-bills, or perennial Geranium cinereum.