Chris Ghyselen’s love of Brunnera stems from them being among the very first plants to flower each year, and for their intense blue flowers. You may then wonder why he set out to breed plants with different flower colours. The answer is that once bitten by the Brunnera bug, he just wanted to see what was possible.

Chris started dabbling with breeding Brunneras at the beginning of the 2000’s. It didn’t take him too long to produce his B. ‘Jack Frost’ doppelganger ‘Inspector Morse’ by crossing plants of B. ‘Langtrees’ that displayed the most silver in their foliage.

B. 'Inspector Morse' was named for the grey haired fictional British TV detective. It has a little more green in its foliage than B. ‘Jack Frost’

While Chris was delighted with Brunnera ‘Inspector Morse’ and produced copies of it to use in his designs, the variety was never released for general sale as it was so similar to B. ‘Jack Frost’.

By crossing ‘Inspector Morse’ with the white-flowered ‘Betty Bowring’ Chris found he had the world’s first Brunnera to combine silver leaves and white flowers. This became the 2008 Darwin PlantSpotters introduction B. ‘Mr Morse’.

But ‘Mr Morse’ isn’t the only Brunnera to emerge from his efforts of the past few years.

Brunnera ‘Yellow Spring’ is a dappled gold variety that will also become available in limited quantities in 2008.

Two variations on pale-blue-flowered cultivars have been named for Chris and Anne’s twin children.

Brunnera ‘Mary’s Eyes’ has green leaves and powder-blue flowers with a narrow white edge.

Brunnera ‘Henry’s Eyes’ has green leaves and light-blue flowers with a narrow white edge. The contrast is more apparent than on ‘Mary’s Eyes’ due to the blue being darker. This variety blooms very early.

Brunnera ‘Starry Eyes’ has white flowers with a rich-blue edge. Named for its remarkable resemblance, in reverse, to Omphalodes ‘Starry Eyes’

‘Starry Eyes’ together. Comparing flowers from Brunnera and Omphalodes of the same name

Plans are under way to introduce ‘Mary’s Eyes’, ‘Henry’s Eyes’ and ‘Starry Eyes’ over the next couple of years.

Chris’s breeding work with Brunneras continues. He’s pursuing some radical ideas, but if his record to date is anything to go by, it won’t be long before yet more treats become available to bring increased diversity to our early season gardens.

This variation on B. 'Inspector Morse' has all-green leaf bases and a long blooming period. As yet un-named, it is being observed as a possible new introduction.