The silver mat by my kitchen window came through a whole summer I barely touched. I watered it twice in a dry July. I fed it nothing. I checked on it now and then, and that was the whole job. The one time I pulled out the pruners, it was just to snip a few flower spikes. By fall it was wider and thicker than the spring before. I had planted it the year before and given it almost nothing since. Low maintenance lamb's ear is no exaggeration. Yes, it is one of the easiest perennials you can grow.
This is a true easy care perennial because most of the year you leave it alone. The plant asks for very little once it settles into a spot. You water it through the first season so the roots take hold. After that it mostly takes care of itself. That hands-off habit is what wins people over. You spend more time looking at it than working on it. If you want a plant that fills a hard, dry corner of your yard without nagging you for attention, this is the one. Many gardeners use it exactly where their fussier plants gave up.
Here is the simple version of what the plant needs from you each year. Most of these jobs take a few minutes or none at all.
A few traits make this plant so easy. It is drought-tolerant once the roots settle, so you rarely water it after the first year. It needs no fertilizer at all. In fact, feeding it often does more harm than good and makes the leaves floppy. Deer and rabbits leave it alone too. The fuzzy leaves feel bad in their mouths, so they move on to your other plants. Pests almost never touch it. Most of your work here is restraint, not action. You do less, and the plant does better.
The small yearly jobs keep your lamb's ear care effort low. Divide the clump only every 2 to 4 years, and only when it crowds itself or thins out in the center. When you divide it, you lift the clump, split it, and replant the healthy outer pieces. Pull or snip the flower spikes if you want a tidy silver carpet instead of tall purple stalks. Some gardeners love the stalks for bees, so this one is your call. A quick spring tidy clears out the dead winter leaves. That is the whole list. None of it takes longer than a coffee break, and you can skip a year without much harm.
The one place this plant is not hands-off is moisture. In a humid climate, soggy soil and trapped damp around the crown rot it faster than anything else. So keep it in well-drained soil and give it room for air to move between the leaves. Water at the base, not over the top. Let the ground dry out between drinks. If your beds stay wet, you can add grit or sand to lighten the soil before you plant. Manage the wet, and the rest of the plant runs itself with no fuss from you.
The short answer is yes. Put it in a sunny, dry spot with good drainage. Water it through that first season. After that you trade fussing for a quick spring cleanup and a divide every few years. You get a tough silver groundcover that spreads on its own. And it shrugs off the problems that sink needier plants. For most gardeners, that is as easy as a perennial gets.
Read the full article: Lamb's Ear Plant: Care, Growing and Tips
