The Silver Bolt (genus *Lunaria*), also known as the Money Plant or Honesty, is totally hardy and frost-resistant. You don’t need to worry about moving it to a winter shelter or fussing with extra frost protection. In fact, because it’s such a pro at self-seeding, once you have it in your garden, it’s likely there to stay!
Know Your “Silver” Plants
When we talk about Silver Bolt, we’re talking about the genus *Lunaria*. It’s super hardy and handles our winters like a champ. However, sometimes people call Dusty Miller (Silver Ragwort) “Silver Leaf” too. Just a heads-up: unlike *Lunaria*, Dusty Miller isn’t winter-hardy and needs a frost-free spot indoors to survive the cold months.
The Silver Bolt is Winter-Hardy
The Silver Bolt is completely winter-hardy and won’t be bothered by freezing temperatures. Since it’s great at spreading its own seeds, you’ll likely see those beautiful blooms popping up in your garden for years to come.
Life Cycle: Why It Disappears After Blooming
Many people treat the Silver Bolt as an annual, but it’s actually a biennial. This means it spends its first year growing leaves and then waits until its second year to show off those flowers. After it blooms and drops its seeds for propagation, the parent plant naturally dies off.
Sometimes, gardeners mistake this natural end-of-life for a lack of winter hardiness. But remember: that plant already survived a full winter before it even bloomed! The tricky part is that in the first year, the plant is pretty low-profile and flowerless, so it often gets accidentally pulled as a weed or mowed over.
Winter Care Tips
For the most part, you can leave your Silver Bolt right where it is all year long without any extra protection. If you’re growing them in pots, you might want to wrap the containers in some winter fleece or burlap just to shield the roots from extreme deep freezes.
In the garden, I’d actually recommend skipping the heavy mulch. While things like bark mulch or compost are usually great for frost protection, the Silver Bolt is prone to root rot and mold if it gets too soggy or smothered.
If it’s a particularly dry winter, give your plants a little water now and then so they don’t dry out completely. One last tip: hold off on any pruning during the fall or winter. You don’t want to stress the plant out when it’s trying to get through the cold!
