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groundcover

Lamb's ears

Stachys byzantina

Climate-suitable non-native

Growing guidance

Horticultural figures below are practitioner estimates for planning, pending expert review. The botanical record further down is sourced and verifiable.

Current-climate suitability

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Future-climate resilience

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Sun

Full sun

Soil moisture

free-draining, average

Heat tolerance

Up to about 44°C

Cold tolerance

Down to about -25°C

Waterlogging tolerance

1/5

Drought tolerance

5/5

Mature size

0.2–0.4 m tall, 0.6 m spread

Seasonal interest

Summer · Silver and mauve

Maintenance

low

Wildlife supported

General wildlife value 4/5 (verified species relationships are shown only where structured data exists)

Known risks or warnings

Rots into brown patches in humid wet summers.

Toxicity: none

Verified botanical record

Accepted scientific name
Stachys byzantina K.Koch
Family
Lamiaceae (Lamiales)
Rank and status
species · accepted
GBIF record
Taxon 2927230

Recorded as introduced in: Altay, Austria, Baltic States, Belgium, British Columbia, Brussels-Capital Region, Bulgaria, California, Channel Is., Connecticut, Czech Republic, Czechia-Slovakia and 32 further regions

Ranges are exactly as recorded in the GBIF source checklists and may be incomplete for widely cultivated species.

Stachys byzantina (syn. S. lanata), the lamb's-ear (lamb's ear) Monty plant or woolly hedgenettle, is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae, native to Armenia, Iran, and Turkey. It is cultivated throughout much of the temperate world as an ornamental plant, and is naturalised in some locations as an escapee from gardens. Plants are very often found under the synonym Stachys lanata or Stachys olympica. Lamb's-ear flowers in late spring and early summer; plants produce tall spike-like stems with a few reduced leaves. The flowers are small and light purple. The plants tend to be evergreen but can "die back” during cold winters and regenerate new growth from the crowns.

Description from Wikipedia — Stachys byzantina (CC BY-SA), shortened and unedited in substance.

Native status and geographic context

  • United Kingdom: climate-suitable
  • United States: climate-suitable
  • Australia: climate-suitable

Native status is never inferred from climate similarity. Plants restricted or invasive in a jurisdiction are excluded from recommendations there.

Demonstration data. Climate, plant and retailer records shown here are realistic samples awaiting horticultural validation and live data connections.