This cultivar was bred by Belgian landscape architect Chris ghyselen. It's a hybrid between a Persicaria amplexicaulis and another undisc...Read Morelosed Persicaria.
This differs from P. amplexicaulis in having soft pink flowers rather than crimson, and instead of sticking straight up, the spikes arch and undulate horizontally like the trunk of an elephant. It is also less than half the height, which means the extra large flower spikes don't cause the stems to lodge.
Plant Patent applied for. Unauthorized propagation is unlawful in the US.
The comments below are based on my experience with P. amplexicaulis and some of its cultivars:
A tough, long-lived border perennial that blooms nonstop from early summer to frost. It does not require staking or deadheading--flowers are self-cleaning.
Armitage writes that it's hardy from Z4-7. I suspect it doesn't like the hot summers of the deep south.
Best in part shade with consistent moisture. In full sun in eastern Massachusetts, this may wilt frequently without regular irrigation.
This does well in ordinary garden soil, and is NOT a rock-garden plant. A well-behaved clump-former, it grows from a thick shallow rhizome that's easily divided, vigorous but slow to spread. A long-lived plant, I recently saw this growing well in a garden abandoned twenty years ago.
The rhizome can be lifted and divided any time of year when the ground's workable, if the top growth is cut back to the ground.
I find an occasional self-sown seedling (indistinguishable from the parent), but I've never seen it self-sow aggressively. In a genus known for its weedy members, this is one excellent garden plant.
This cultivar was bred by Belgian landscape architect Chris ghyselen. It's a hybrid between a Persicaria amplexicaulis and another undisc...Read More