Foamflower

Reliable, deer-resistant shade groundcover with spring flowers, fall color, and semi-evergreen foliage that looks good twelve months a year.

Foamflower is the native shade groundcover that everyone who has a woodland garden should have more of. In spring, the low, heart-leaved mats send up six-to-twelve-inch spikes covered in tiny white flowers with long protruding stamens, the foamy appearance that gives the plant its name. The effect is a soft cloud of white rising just above the foliage, catching the filtered light of the forest understory. The flowering period runs from April through June and the show builds each year as the colony spreads. What makes Foamflower particularly valuable is the foliage that persists year-round: semi-evergreen in mild winters, the leaves develop burgundy-bronze mottling and darkening along the veins as temperatures drop, creating a tapestry of color through fall and winter. It spreads by surface runners, forming dense, weed-suppressing mats that are excellent under trees, along shaded paths, and at the base of shrubs. Deer generally leave it alone, which makes it all the more useful under heavy browse pressure.