Plants That Help Blend Colors
A gardener discovers colorful plants that play nice in the landscape
Put some plants side by side and you end up with jarring combinations. In today's article, a landscaper shares some of her favorite plants that help colors blend.
Without a doubt, Judy has a collector's garden. But, make no mistake, this is not a hodge podge garden. A visitor to her garden was overheard complimenting the restraint Judy used with the color pallette. This is just one of the reasons the garden works; yellow, blue and pink are repeated throughout the garden in foliage and flowers.
When Judy isn't working as a landscaper and volunteering for the Extension Master Gardeners, she is searching for plants to add to her own garden. Her garden is so popular that it has become a stop on garden tours and photographers from newspapers and magazines are calling to schedule photo dates. Recently, she took time from her busy schedule to show me some of her favorite plants.
Judy has found that there are some plants that go with anything, they help colors blend. She calls them "chameleon plants." The foliage of Variegated Zelkova, Zelkova serrata 'Goshiki', works with white, cream, blue and yellow. The variegated foliage gives this tree a delicate appearance. Variegated Zelkova grows in both sun and part shade. Tricolor Hypericum, Hypericum x moserianum 'Tricolor', is also a favorite. Chosen for the Athens Select Program, Tricolor Hypericum has colorful foliage that blends well with hot pink, rose pink, yellow and blue. Placed in front of a Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar, Judy even likes the combination in the winter with the reddish branches of the Hypericum against the steel blue of the Cedar. Another favorite is the 2004 Perennial Plant of the Year, Japanese Painted Fern, Athyrium niponicum 'Pictum'. A useful plant for shade gardens, Japanese Painted Fern works with all colors. The newest addition to her garden, Coppertina Ninebark, Physocarpus opulifolius 'Mindia', meant an ornamental grass had to be dug up and moved hours before a garden tour.
Not being afraid to experiment and dig up plants and move them (even when it is 90 degrees outside), has helped Judy find plants with colorful foliage that play nice with others.
© Susan Mertz, June 2006. All rights reserved.
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