Mauve (H2) flowers, VIII–IX; bright green foliage particularly in spring [foliage being whitish at the tips during the summer, and, if anything, a shade more so in winter.’; height 16–20cm; spread 31–45cm.
Mentioned in a sample book at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, with a fly-leaf note “William Cripps, Tooting Nurseries [London, England] 11th April 1849”; listed by James Smith in 1867 and by Lawson (Edinburgh, Scotland) in 1874.
Named from argenteus = silvery, a reference to the foliage, although as noted: Maxwell (1927) was acerbic – ‘It was sheer optimism to name this variety argentea … [it] is entirely “without the stamp of merit”.’
