Persicaria virgineana 'Painter's Palette'

Persicaria virgineana 'Painter's Palette'

This is an unusual exotic perennial, as the leaf markings are quite unique. It is not often that you see leaves that are cream coloured with a shadow of pink over the surface .This plant likes a damp spot in the garden or one with heavy soil. If growing in a pot you need to keep a saucer of water under it as it tends to wilt when not kept moist. In summer it sends up a thin spike of hot pink flowers .It self-seeds and will come up in unlikely places usually in a pot of something else, though I wouldn't go so far as to call it weedy. The plant looks a bit tatty by the end of summer and can be cut back hard .It is quite herbaceous in cold climates but in milder places it will develop new growth after a cut back at any time of the year.
2017 update: I no longer grow this and it seems to have disappeared from the nursery trade here perhaps because of weed status.