Northwest Blooms · Perennials
Lunaria annua
Money Plant
- Family
- Brassicaceae
- Height
- 24 to 36 in
- Width
- 12 to 18 in
- Flower color
- Purple to lavender four petaled blooms sometimes white
- Foliage color
- Medium green slightly toothed ovate leaves forming upright clumps
- Bloom time
- Mid to late spring
- Light
- Full sun to partial shade
- Water
- Moderate
- Maintenance
- Low, allow seed pods to develop for ornamental display or self seeding
- Growing zone
- USDA zones 4 to 8
- Wildlife
- Bees butterflies and other pollinating insects
About this plant
Lunaria annua produces loose clusters of softly scented purple to violet flowers in mid- to late spring, carried above fresh green foliage that forms a gentle mound. As the season advances, the blooms give way to translucent, silvery seed pods that catch the light and remain decorative well into autumn and winter, lending quiet luminosity to borders and dried arrangements.
Native to southeastern Europe and western Asia and long cultivated in cottage gardens, it reflects centuries of appreciation for both spring bloom and ornamental seed display. Readily self-seeding growth allows natural colonies to reappear year after year in informal plantings.
Works well in
Borders · Cottage Gardens · Pollinator Gardens · Cut Flower Gardens
Companion plants
Catmint · Heucheras · Lady's mantle · Hellebores · Hardy geraniums · Hostas
Design tip
The early flowers arrive when the garden is still waking up, so give it a spot you pass often in spring. Because it is easy about light, use it to carry a planting from a sunny end of the bed into the shadier side.
Where to see it
This plant can be seen at Heronswood Garden.
