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Plant of the Week
Painter's Palette
Latin: Persicaria virginiana
Gardeners having to deal with a lot of shade in their gardens are always
looking for new plants that add color to the shaded recesses of their planting
spaces. Painter’s Palette, often known as Tovara virginiana, is a plant
relatively new to the garden scene that may be worth considering. For really
shocking foliage color, few plants rival this beauty.
Painter’s Palette is an herbaceous perennial that grows to 18 inches tall and
spreads by means of underground stems. It has large, oval shaped leaves that
grow 4 to 6 inches long and are a beautiful composition of rich green, maroon
markings in the shape of lightning bolts and cream colored patches that occupy
just a portion or occasionally the entire leaf. Each leaf has a different
variegation pattern. In the fall it produces loose, terminal spikes that grow to
8 inches long and contain a number of small, cup-shaped greenish flowers. The
plant dies to the ground in the winter but is hardy statewide, in fact it grows
from zones 5 to 9.
This species is relatively unusual because, while originally discovered growing
in Virginia and named for that locale, it also occurs in Japan, Korea and the
Himalayas of China. Such wide distribution is uncommon amongst plants of a
single species and helps explain why it is described under at least three Latin
names in garden catalogs.
Plants that have underground root systems sometimes can become aggressive and
grow into areas where they are not wanted. Painter’s Palette is a member of the
smartweed family and a few of these have sufficiently aggressive spreading
habits to make them suitable for use as groundcovers. At least in my experience,
this plant is not as aggressive a spreader as the groundcover types, but in a
good site it could move away from its original planting location. Should you
wish to increase its spread and use it as a groundcover, spring division or
summer cuttings are an easy way to propagate new plants to increase the size of
the planting.
The best planting location for Painter’s Palette is in medium shade in
relatively fertile soil that can be watered during dry spells. Members of the
smartweed family typically do best in relatively moist locations, but Painter’s
Palette has good drought tolerance once established. It is ideal for mass
plantings where its showy color markings and bold leaf size can make an
effective display in those shady recesses that need a spot of summer color.
By: Gerald Klingaman, retired
Extension Horticulturist
- Ornamentals
Extension News -
April 23, 1999
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