Many gardeners have discovered that using gold foliage in the landscape is an easy way to add color without depending on flowers.
Planting Gold in the Garden tells a design story. This series of articles looks at conifers, shrubs, perennials, tropicals and grasses with color ranging from touches of gold to all over gold.
Several years ago I asked a landscape customer why he shopped for foliage rather than flowers. This customer worked for a construction company that develops upper bracket apartment complexes and multiple dwelling residential neighborhoods. He responded that using foliage plants as the backbone of his design means the landscape will be interesting year round. He always begins his design process with the plants selected for bark color and foliage. Flowers are the last plants to go into the design.
Using yellow foliage plants in the landscape is a low maintenance way of adding color. Planting Gold in the Garden gives ideas on plants to try, how to use them in the garden and companion plants.
© Susan Mertz, June 2006. All rights reserved.
Click on Plants and Bulbs for more articles by Susan Mertz.
