Plants To Grow Near 'Purple Dragon' Ground Cover For A Gorgeous Landscape

'Purple Dragon' dead nettle (Lamium maculatum 'Purple Dragon') is a fast-growing ground cover with purple flowers. Its heart-shaped toothed leaves are silvery white with soft green edging, making for interesting and beautiful perennial foliage in your yard. The plant can be used to fill in space under trees because it tolerates shade, but it can also grow happily on a patio or porch in filtered sunlight. While an entire blanket of 'Purple Dragon' would be lovely, you can add companion plants to create variety in your outdoor space. A few great choices include coral bells, astilbe, lungwort, hosta, and lamb's ear.

Like 'Purple Dragon', coral bells and astilbe require moist, well-draining soil, and thrive in similar climate zones. These plants enjoy full to partial sun, and they produce blooms in colors that will complement the purple flowers in the dead nettle. Coral bells can add either red, pink, white, or orange blooms to the yard, and astilbe is available in similar shades. The array of colors will be visually pleasing and it can also bring more pollinators into your yard and garden. 

If you're planning to plant your 'Purple Dragon' under the shade of a tree then sun-loving companion plants aren't going to be an option. In this case, you want to pick neighboring species that prefer shade but will still complement the beautiful pink or lavender 'Purple Dragon' flowers that pop up in spring and summer. Lungwort has attractive variegated foliage in colors such as green and silver, and it reaches a similar height to 'Purple Dragon' — between 6 and 12 inches. It also tolerates the shade or partial sun, blooms in similar seasons, and produces flowers in either purple, red, white, pink, or blue. 

Another family of shade plants that go well with 'Purple Dragon' are hostas. These perennial plants will thrive in your garden's acidic soil and bring interest to the garden with their summer blooms. Hostas produce ornamental foliage which varies in color and pattern depending on the cultivar. Choose 'Mini Skirt' for frilly blue-green leaves with creamy white margins, or 'Fire Island' for rippled foliage in a bright yellow hue. Hostas also come in a range of sizes, so if you don't want it to tower over your 'Purple Dragon', choose a small variety that will reach around 8 inches in height.

While combining colors and heights is a great strategy for marrying 'Purple Dragon' with other plants, there's a third option to consider — other ground covers like lamb's ear. Unlike 'Purple Dragon', lamb's ear loves the sun so you can use it to cover any bright spots nearby. This ground cover is non-invasive, grows to a similar height, and produces purplish-pink flowers that will nicely complement the blooms of 'Purple Dragon'. Lamb's ear also offers quick-growing foliage with an interesting soft texture and a silvery gray color that will look striking alongside the green and silver leaves of 'Purple Dragon'. The ground cover also attracts pollinators and can improve your soil.

The best way to choose the perfect companion plants for your 'Purple Dragon' is to take location, aesthetic, zone tolerances, size, soil preference, and light requirements into consideration. Picture how you want your space to look and bring it to life by picking plants that will not overwhelm surrounding species, but cooperate and complement each other and your garden.