The non-toxic silver leaf is one of the plants that, with its dried seed heads, can add interesting eye-catchers to the garden in autumn. The flowering plant, which also occurs in nature and requires extensive care, is propagated by seeds.
How do you sow silver leaf plants?
Sowing silverleaf plants should be done directly outdoors in early summer, with the seeds only lightly covered with soil. Choose a location without strong-growing neighboring plants and keep the young plants partially shaded and evenly moist.
A plant with many exciting facets
The silver leaf's moon-shaped seed pods, which become translucent like parchment as the seeds become more ripe, have given it the following popular names:
- Judas Siberling
- Garden Silverleaf
- Moon Violet
- Judaspfennig
- Silver thaler
The Latin name “Lunaria annua” also refers to the seeds of the “moon plant”, although the addition of annuality is not really correct. The silver leaf actually dies after flowering, but is actually biennial and only blooms in the second year. The eye-catching seed heads are usually the main reason for a culture in the garden. The pink-violet or white flowers are also an aesthetic pasture for bees and emit their scent mainly at night to attract moths for pollination.
Harvest the seeds and sow them at the right rhythm
Harvesting the seeds is relatively easy with silver leaf, as they are located like on a presentation plate between the two layers of the seed pods. You can put a plastic bag over the entire flower stalks with the seed heads and, after cutting them off, sort them into seeds and compost material indoors so that too many seeds do not fall onto the ground in the garden. Sow some of the seeds in the garden every year to ensure that you get flowers and seeds from the plant, which only blooms every two years.
Sowing and care of the silver leaf
The silver leaf is ideally sown directly outdoors in early summer, with the seeds covered with a little soil. The chosen location should be free of fast-growing neighboring plants so that the young plants, which are still quite small in the first year, have enough light and space to develop. The young plants should be in partial shade and kept evenly moist.
Tip
After the first sowing in the garden, the silver leaf usually spreads by itself through self-sowing. If this proliferation is to be curbed, the seeds must be cut off before they ripen, which reduces the decorative value of the plants. In this case, you should under no circumstances put the seed heads on the compost heap with other cuttings, otherwise you will spread the long-germinating seeds all over the garden with the compost.