• Details
  • Plants which have decorative foliage not only bring colour to your borders but also bring in life and can be used to create a scene, on their own or combined with flowering plants.

    Not solely for colour
    The colour of the most grown varieties is purple, golden or variegated (often green and white). The range of colours becomes richer and foliage competes with the flowers' blooms. The orange Heucheras, the blue Festucas and many more plants bring into the garden something that flowers cannot bring in. But other factors are also important.
    The shape is particularly crucial. Grasses have fine, long leaves which play with the wind. They suggest the dynamism of a site whereas rounded leaves, more static, suit better calm and restful spots. Only growing similar-shaped foliage quickly creates a saturation effect, when varied shapes are going to mutually enhance each other.
    The foliage texture, a more abstract notion, is also important. Texture indicates the feel of the plant when touched: if the foliage is soft (like with the Lamb's ears), rough (like the Giant Rhubarb) or tough (like Ivy), etc. Mixing different textures is also a way of bringing in variety in a flowering bed.

    Harmonise
    To create a harmonisation of foliage which develops a theme, you must start by selecting the varieties which draw closer to this theme. Colour is a simple theme to develop but texture, like the colour or the woolly look of some plants, adds difficulty. And if the chosen theme is even more difficult you might not be able to find plants (or not enough) which answer the criteria. Therefore, choose a large enough theme to give you choice. Two types of plants can create a thematic match, if each of them has a different texture and close colours.

    To create contrast
    Combining two types of foliage which enhance each other is easy, if you want to oppose one colour to another like blue (which you choose in Hostas, Blue Festucas, etc.) with yellow or golden (the range is quite large). Contrasts, by definition only match two types of elements. If you grow too many different types of plants, the whole of it might look a bit messy, except if you do it over a grand scale. (Over several metres).

    3 good tips
    Use perennial plants which form a link, like Stipas or plants which have, small white or green flowers, and vaporous, flimsy ones (Asters, Gypsophila (Baby's breath) Spiraea- (Japanese Meadowsweet), etc.).
    Include 2 to 3 plants which grow forming loose clumps as they are going to combine their foliage with the neighbouring plants, without however, stealing their limelight, like Saponaria (common soapwort), the Lysimachia purpurea( crimson loosestrife) or perennial geraniums.
    Plant your border in front of shrubs which are going to be a useful backdrop as it is difficult to create a foliage-styled border on its own.

    Good to know
    The best foliage- combinations always leave a bit to hazard as it is not always certain that the plants grow into the spot chosen for them. Plants are living and they are sometimes independent!
    Combinations change with time, because some plants develop more than anticipated and others have a short life span. See your flowering border as a changing painting rather than a rigid display and let yourself be drawn into improving it every year
  • Photos (5)
  • Harmonise foliage between them
    Harmonise foliage between them
    An autumnal border, with its matching foliage.
    Author: B&G Media
    Copyright
    Harmonise foliage between them
    Harmonise foliage between them
    Two identical textures (Heucheras and Sage officinalis which both have soft leaves), but different colours.
    Author: B&G Media
    Copyright
    Harmonise foliage between them
    Harmonise foliage between them
    A border which displays a variety of green and yellowish-green shades.
    Author: B&G Media
    Copyright
    Harmonise foliage between them
    Harmonise foliage between them
    Dark purple contrasts distinctly with the pale green of the Euphorbia and the variegated ‘Snow on the mountain'.
    Author: B&G Media
    Copyright
    Harmonise foliage between them
    Harmonise foliage between them
    Enrich your border little by little with new foliage.
    Author: B&G Media
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