“A garden that is all flowers is like a cake that is all icing.”
Most of you reading would call it frosting rather than icing, but the sentiment stands: foliage is a key component of a garden.
We have so many options when choosing foliage. We can have big leaves and small leaves, textured leaves and leaves with interesting shapes. However it’s colourful leaves that I would like to discuss here.
From Darkness…
Dark leaves bring drama into the garden.
Dark foliage in a potted display at Wisley in England
Think in terms of a photograph; so often those images that really catch our eyes are the ones where there is a good balance of light and shadow. In our gardens the dark foliage gives us those shadowy tones to counter the lightness of the greens and the colours of our flowers.
…Into The Light
The lighter leaves, either variegated or a solid colour, are useful for a different reason.
Variegated Cornus controversa ‘Variegata’, the wedding cake tree, taking centre stage
These are the foliages that bring the lighter tones, continuing with the example of a photograph. The brighter colouring counters the dullness that you can see from too much massed vegetation.
Yellow catalpa, Indian bean tree, contrasting with other colours on a bright and sunny day
A boldly variegated tree or shrub strategically placed can be every bit as much a focal point as an statue or sculpture.
Tread Carefully
Bringing in another analogy, let’s talk about seasoning food.
Some people like heavily seasoned food while others prefer light seasoning. Whatever your taste it’s incredibly important to use the right seasoning and not overdo it. Too much salt or too many herbs and spices can ruin a meal.
Purple-leafed maples look great close up, but when they get big in the garden…
This is very much true when we come to using dark or light foliage. The temptation is to embrace the options available to us, to go around the nursery looking for plants with purple, yellow or variegated plants to add ‘seasoning’ to our gardens. Surely if you balance the number of ‘light’ and ‘dark’ plants you will get a happy balance, right?
Less Is More
Being highly strategic in your choice of plants and subsequent placing is key.
You can get away with mixing things up florally in the borders because flowers tend not to stay the same all year. If you decide to be adventurous with your flower colours (please do!) then you might find the effect a little too bold at some points in the year but less so at others.
A large copper beech does nothing to brighten a gloomy day
When it comes to foliage things are a bit different. You have the foliage effect every day that the plant is in leaf, and this can end up being quite a commitment, especially when you consider how much of any given plant is foliage as opposed to flowers.
Using larger trees and shrubs can become particularly difficult as the overall size of the plant magnifies the effect. It’s so tempting to go big and bold with a real statement tree, but could you find that you can actually have too much of a good thing?
I planted a golden dawn redwood, Metasequoia ‘Golden Oji’ (usually sold under the trade name ‘Goldrush’) in the garden of a 750 year old house surrounded by green countryside. Was I mad? Quite possibly, but the idea is to provide a single dominant bright element to the garden.
Maybe I was mad to plant a golden tree?
And I really mean single too; to avoid clashing with any other plants in the garden I will be sticking solely to green foliage everywhere else on the 13 acre site. This might seem rather extreme but I think it’s really important to use these plants strategically.
Overdoing It
Visiting a funfair can be a great experience. The lights, the sounds, the activity.
After a while it can all get rather too much. You’ve enjoyed yourself but it’s now time to go home.
Some variegation is simply exquisite
You can reach this point of fatigue in the garden too. Lots of colours can be very exciting but can also end up being a bit overwhelming after a while. It’s not just a matter of taste as such, but also a matter of psychology: lots of colour in a busy and active garden is great, but if you want your garden to be a place of quiet relaxation then too many bright colours together can end up with the opposite effect.
Cotinus ‘Royal Purple’ is popular for its dark foliage
The idea of a few big splashes of colourful foliage might seem like a really great idea at the nursery, but in the garden they can become a bit of a liability.
– [ ]
Thank you for this post. This reminds us , Ben, that hues of greens, bronzes and different textures in the garden hold reliable interest between the predictable bouts of flowering plants. My garden is open to many “volunteers” that have proved to provide a continuous variety of shapes, colors, growing habits and flowering times. It is restful at times just to stare into a sea of waving grasses.
All things have their place, but also you can have too much of a good thing!
When we focus on the texture and scale of leaves, we can save color for highlights. But a garden scheme that want’s to offer special combination can benefit from grouping special colors. Groupings of gray ferns, and white variegated groundcovers can be the beginnings of a special garden. Pairing together a variety of yellow green leaves abutting one another (Hakenochloa, Hosta ‘Sun Power’, Aralia ‘Sun King’) can be seen as if sunshine is penetrating the shade. The trick is NOT placing too much variety in the same garden bed.
Absolutely, the careful choice of foliages can be incredibly powerful.
Is is possible, Ben, that your reticence regarding colourful foliage is simply a matter of personal familiarity? I live in a log house, and whenever I visit a home with conventional white-painted walls, it feels very loud to me. On the other hand, big splashes of red and gold foliage are a natural part of the autumn landscape in the mountains of my region. For me, playing with those color contrasts in the garden is paying homage to those places and those moments.
Quite possibly, which is why I advocate careful and considered use rather than avoiding these sometimes challenging plants.
With the metasequoia, at least it’s gold only half the year (as a decidiuous conifer).
I personally like high contrast, like with a “tropical” type garden. Detractors would call it clown college (or clown vomit; there’s a similar term coined by Joan Rivers that I won’t mention). To each their own?
Yes, each to their own indeed.
I’m definitely advocating careful and considered use, but that deliberate combination of contrasts can be very powerful. It can also be horrible too!
750 year old house? I assume that is a typo…?
Not a typo; 750 years old and has been in the same family for nearly all that time.
Perhaps, looking at the “copper beech” photo, most of us Americans would say that yes, in the middle of a gloomy day it would do nothing to brighten it, but in fact, over here we don’t HAVE that many gloomy days…. In fact, the darker trees tend to be gorgeous because of the sunlight. With our brightness over here, we use the color of sizeable specimens as exclamation points, as you did with the yellow Metasequoia, but we would use dark color just as much. (if not more; we’re in the middle of a heat wave and would use ANYTHING to “tone down” the heat and light. )
I was thinking similarly Jim – the play of strong light against and through dark foliage, from a beech to a canna, is striking. – MW
Colorful foliage brings a quality of playfulness and exuberance to the garden that can’t be sustained through flower alone. I think it’s because I live and garden in a valley (after living on the top of a hill), that I am so drawn to it. The sun doesn’t properly hit the garden until 10ish, and then only until 5 at best. In places. The whites and golds are gentle at dawn and dusk — but visible and interesting.
I am disappointed in the golden metasequoia – it’s growth habit is inferior (in my opinion) to the stately upright and lateral lines of the straight species (even a juvenile straight sp.). That said, it doesn’t stop me growing it. – MW