Name: Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Golden Arrow’

Type of Plant:  Perennial hardy in zones 4-7, compact in height and about as tall as it is wide. (20” in my garden)

Why I Love This Plant: As I often tell my design clients, you should plant for foliage color and texture first, and the flowers are a bonus after that. This perennial is such a plant. The leaves are a lime-green and large, so they are the perfect contrast with dark green foliage or finer textures. The bright pink flowers are the icing on the cake, poking up above the leaves through mid-summer.

When my garden was open for the Cape Cod Hydrangea Festival this year, this was one of the most asked about plants. Grow it in part sun or part shade. In my garden, it gets direct sun in the morning for a couple of hours, and direct sun at the end of the day, but it’s shaded from the sun at the hottest part of the day.

A Word to the Wise:   Some sources list this as a spreader, but in my garden it hasn’t wandered much. I don’t fertilize it, and it receives the normal once a week deep soaking. This is a plant that will tolerate and even appreciate wetter soils.

I’ve seen this listed as having red flowers, but the blooms in my garden are a hot pink.

This plant may be hard to find, but seek it out! Check out Digging Dog Nursery online. 

Since this perennial has big, lime-green leaves, plant it near something with fine, green textures such as Amsonia, or even daylilies. This would be a good plant to put behind any of the purple-foliaged Heuchera as well.

Persicaria ‘Golden Arrow’ is a well behaved perennial that adds foliage color to part-shade gardens.