It's Persicaria virginiana 'Painters Pallette', a very attractive and easy
to maintain (not invasive) herbaceous perennial for part shade. As paghat
said, most certainly not a Hebe, which is a woody subshrub and definitely
not 'Quicksliver', which has tiny blue green leaves, held on dark stems.
FYI, most hebes will not be hardy for you in NJ - they are a somewhat tender
plant and will need winter protection. And as a means to identify a hebe,
should you really encounter one, the foliage is ranked - that is, pairs of
opposing leaves are held at exactly 90 degrees from the preceeding pair so
that when you look down the stem, the leaves are in pecise alternate rows
set 90 degrees apart.

pam - gardengal




"Twobtold" wrote in message
...
Hi --
Two seasons ago I bought a few liners from a nursery in NJ.
They were tagged as Hebe Quicksilver. Last season they did not
flower but the leaves were impressive, very variable in color.
The plants grew to about 8 inches.
This season the plants are about 2 feet tall, still with
leaves of cream or green; cream with green; green with cream;
others have blotches on them ranging from rust colored to dark
brown.
But now I have the first flower spike with little Red buds
on it. Hebe Quicksilver is supposed to have pale Mauve flowers.
Can anyone ID this plant?
http://members.aol.com/twobtold/Garden/HebeFlower.jpg
http://members.aol.com/twobtold/Garden/1HebeLeaf.jpg
http://members.aol.com/twobtold/Garden/2HebeLeaf.jpg
TIA (NJ,Z6)