Hear this: Betony thrives where lamb's ear fails.(Home & Garden)(Midwest gardening)

Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL), July, 2007

Byline: Jan Riggenbach If you can grow lamb's ears, you can grow betony. It's hard to tell by looking that these handsome perennials are closely related. The soft, fuzzy leaves of lamb's ears beg for touching and their silver color shines in the garden. Betony, on the other hand, is grown not for its foliage but for its showy pink, purple or white flower spikes that look something like salvia.

Regardless of their different looks, lamb's ears and betony are both members of the same group, the Stachys genus. Both perennials grow well in full sun. A small clump of betony has also been thriving in my garden in partial shade for many years. Neither bunnies nor deer seem interested in chomping on either lamb's ear or betony. Although both types of plants are...