The Simple Pleasures of Lunaria

Walk down Susan Kline’s Delaware County lane on a May morning and prepare to be bowled over by her...honesty. Not hers personally, but by the huge drifts of Lunaria annua—commonly known as “honesty”—that festoon her front lawn.

The Lunaria was planted in the Kline garden several years ago, along with an array of yellow and red tulips. Susan was also planning to put in purple tulips, but realized that the soft violet of this biennial was her tulip. “Its flower did the job of providing purple in my spring garden. Along with the tulips, it floats over the green foliage like a cloud passing over the garden.”

Noting that she likes a “loose, lazy garden,” Susan’s choice of Lunaria seems a twist of fate since, as she notes, “if you let it go, it self-sows to eternity.” It’s recommended, however, that you thin it out after the spring bloom so it doesn’t crowd out other garden specimens—leave the remaining plants about 1 foot apart. A little Lunaria goes a long way.

Flower arrangers also like this plant in late summer, as its seed pods grow into flat, circular “coins,” hence its other common names: money plant and silver dollars. As the plants dry out in fall, its pods become covered in a membrane that must be removed to reveal the decorative pods within.

Although the genus is small (only three species), there are several cultivars worth searching out at local nurseries. While the species L. annua has light purple flowers on green foliage, ‘Stella’ features white blossoms and ‘Munstead Purple’ has dazzling red-purple ones. For summer-long appeal, look for ‘Variegata’ or ‘Alba Variegata’, both of which sport cream or white margins on their green leaves.

Back in Susan Kline’s garden on this May morning, the Lunaria is blooming up a storm amidst tulips, azaleas, dogwoods and buttercups. Highlighted against the stucco façade of her Arts & Crafts-era cottage, the freewheeling effect is pure bliss.

“Each spring, I’ll do a major weeding and mulching,” she adds, “But other than that, I don’t manipulate the plants much. I’m more interested in watching the garden form itself.” And for this kind of a “loose, lazy garden,” few plants are better suited than Lunaria. —Carol DeGiulio