In message , Ian B
writes
Jeff Layman wrote:
On 20/05/2011 19:20, Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:
In message , Ian B
writes
Jeff Layman wrote:
On 20/05/2011 10:30, Ian B wrote:
Last year I planted some stachys, which were sweet little furry
things in three inch pots. I just looked at the pots, they're
tiny, and the labels say, 'spread, 14"x24"'. These things are now
gigantic, horizontally far beyond 14" across and sending enormous
furry spikes heavenwards in abundance, while the rose bushes
they're are planted around cower terrified against the furry grey
onslaught. Will these things consume the whole garden?

On a more serious note, the "low level" leaves all seem to be
going yellow and dying off. Is this normal? It doesn't look very
attractive. Is there something I should be doing? Or is it
supposed to be gigantic forests of spikes surrouded by
yellowy-brown mulch?

Are you sure that they are a Stachys, and not something like Salvia
argentea?
http://www.landscapedia.info/plant.php?plantID=31288

Definitely stachys. I've still got the pots.

So do they say which type of Stachys?

Maybe it's lanata/byzantina, but the cultivar 'Big Ears' - leaves
very large, up to 25 cm long (according to Wikipedia).

Yes, it's lanata. No other cultivar or type.

My experience of what I thought was lanata is that it spreads, but that
it's not tall.

--
Stewart Robert Hinsley