ORNAMENTAL FOLIAGE PLANTSPLANTS WITH COLOURED LEAVES OTHER THAN GREEN

SHIVANGI

Flowers come and go, but for most plants in the garden, leaves remain throughout the year. We often don’t notice their potential effect, because plants with coloured foliage are frequently mixed in with green foliage. By choose plants with colour in the leaves, and this will be adding colour to the garden for the whole year.

INTRODUCTION

WHY TO USE?The wonderful colours of foliage, ranging through reds, green, greys, yellows and silvers, can make an enormous contribution to our landscaped area’s.

Coloured and variegated foliage can be a source of spectacular effect in the garden moreover,Colorful Foliage Provides Season Long Colour.

Pigment Class Compound Type Colors

Porphyrin chlorophyll green

Carotenoid carotene and lycopene xanthophyll

yellow, orange, red yellow

Flavonoid flavoneflavonolAnthocyanin

yellow yellow red, blue, purple, magenta

REASON FOR COLOURED FOLIAGE OR LEAF?Chlorophyll is a collection of molecules inside each green leaf that provides its color. There are other pigments in plants, too, like xanthophylls, which are yellow, and carotenoids, which are yellow, orange and red. Varying amounts of pigments in the plants create the different shades and colours.

WAYS TO USE COLOURED FOLIAGE

Interesting results can be achieved in a garden through the use of colour and texture of foliage.

In a design sense colour can be used as a focal point or to draw the eye to a particular area;

To give a lift to a dark corner; or to give a bold statementFor example, if you have lots of green foliage, and we plant a

reddish coloured foliage plant as a hedge through the centre .

In Colour theme gardens foliage is used in harmony or in contrast.

Combinations we can use include white, silver and gold; cool coloured (blue, purple, green) or hot coloured (red, orange, pink, yellow) foliage.

Mass plantings of coloured foliage can create a significant splash amongst green plants.

To create a tapestry effect by using a single foliage colour, or two or more foliage colours.

PLANTS ACCORDING TO COLOUR OF THE FOLIAGE

Gold/Yellow

Silver/Grey/Blue

Red/Purple/Bronze

Multi-coloured

It’s surprising how many different colours can be found in foliage, if we take the time to look. Massive range of coloured foliage including crotons, cordylines, and bromeliads, along with a large number of variegated foliage plants. So lets discuss plants according to the colour of their foliage.

Dracaena 'Florida Beauty' - dappled yellow and green foliage.

Duranta ‘Sheena’s Gold – shrub with lime green foliage; best in full sun.

Thymus ‘Aureus’ (Golden Thyme) – groundcover with small gold-coloured leaves; needs full sun and good drainage

GOLD/ YELLOW

Alternanthera Pedilanthus tithymeloides

Sansevieria Pleomele reflexa marginator 'Song of India' - tough, with long yellow-

edged leaves.

Dieffenbachia 'Tropic Marianne' - creamy leaves brighten dark spot.

Origanum vulgare ‘Aureum’ (Golden Marjoram) – groundcover herb with small gold leaves; needs good drainage and full sun

Polyscias balfourana[SOURCE :BOOK (HOUSE PLANTS :

SIMON & SCHUSTER)]

Aucuba japonica ‘Gold Dust’ – a hardy medium shrub with yellow leaf markings; good for shady areas

Buxus sempervirens ‘Aurea’ – small shrub with yellow-green foliage, often used for hedging in cool climates

Jasminum officinale Variegatum- Creamy white margins to leaves

Euonymus japonica ‘Aureo Marginata’ – upright medium shrub with yellow leaf margins

Manihot esculenta (cassava)

Aloe variegata

Ananas comosus [SOURCE :BOOK (HOUSE PLANTS : SIMON & SCHUSTER)]

Artemisia sp. (Wormwood) – low spreading shrubs with aromatic grey foliage; grow in full sun; needs trimming to maintain shape

Chamaedorea metallica - small palm grey-silver foliage

Cerastium tomentosum (Snow-in-Summer) – low-growing plant with silver foliage and small white flowers; fast-growing in full sun

SILVER/GREY/BLUE

Calathea burle-marxii - distinctive silver and green striped leaves.

Lavender – popular small shrubs with grey-green foliage; needs good drainage and full sun

LAVENDER “SILVER DUST”

Stachys byzantina (Lambs’ Ears) – fast-growing hardy groundcover with furry silver leaves; best in full sun

Picea pungens ‘Koster’ – silver-blue conifer for cold climates

Santolina chamaecyparissus (Lavender Cotton) – small neat shrub with silver foliage and yellow button flowers; full sun

Acalypha wilkesiana var. – small to medium shrubs for warm climates with reddish/purple leaves; needs full sun for good colour.

Ajuga reptans var. – groundcovers with rosettes of bronze or purple leaves; good for damp soil

Acalypha 'Inferno' lives up to its name, and can be pruned to a compact bush

RED/PURPLE/BRONZE

Bromeliads: Dark red is often concentrated in the central rosette. Neoregelia carolinae 'Charm' - dark red leaves spotted with green, pink tipped. N. carolinae 'Tricolor' contributes red, yellow and green.

Cotinus coggyria ‘Purpurea’ (Purple Smoke Bush) – deciduous tall shrub with purple foliage, most intense foliage colour in autumn

Dracaena colorama

Alternanthera

Euphorbia pulcherrima(Law garden nursery )

Rhoeo discolor dwarf Eranthemum nigrum

COLEUS HYBRIDUS GYNURA PROCUMBENS

HYPOESTES PHYLLOSTACHYA

[SOURCE :BOOK (HOUSE PLANTS : SIMON & SCHUSTER)]

Alocasia metallica

Anthurium andreanum

Anthurium crystallium [SOURCE :BOOK (HOUSE PLANTS : SIMON & SCHUSTER)]

Austromyrtus 'blushing beauty'

X fatshedera lizei (ivy tree)

Hemigraphis colorata

Dodonea viscosa ‘Purpurea’ (Purple Hop Bush) – narrow medium shrub with purple leaves; full sun

Leptospermum ‘Copper Sheen’ – low spreading shrub with copper foliage; full sun

Nandina domestica ‘Nana’ – small shrub with crimson-red foliage in autumn and winter; full sun

Phormium tenax ‘Purpurea’ – tall strap-leaved perennial; good for dry or seaside conditions

Photinia glabra ‘Rubens’ – large shrub with flushes of bright red leaves; good medium-tall hedge

Pittosporum teniufolium ‘Tom Thumb’ – small dense shrub; older foliage turns reddish-brown

Codiaeum variegatum var. pictum (Croton) – upright fast-growing plants for warm climates with showy coloured foliage; best in full sun in a protected position

(Crotons in general have large leaves and do best in shade. C. Codiaeum 'Norma'. -bright red foliage; C. Codiaeum 'Mona Lisa' - bright yellow leaves; C. Codiaeum 'Petra' orange leaves)

Coleus – small herbaceous plant with many leaf colours and patterns; good for shady areas

MULTI-COLOURED

Cordyline terminalis var. (Dracaena) – upright plants with strappy brightly coloured foliage; subtropics and tropics; best colours in shade. (Cordylines give a colour great range. C. 'Willies Gold' is spectacular with striped pink and green leaves. C. 'Pink Diamond' - pinkish stems contrasting with its leaves. C. 'Negra' has the darkest black- purple leaves)

Echiveria spp. – succulent low-growing plants; full sun

Hosta spp. – small-growing plants with large variegated leaves in gold, silver, blue and many shades of green; best in shade and moist soil

Sedum spp. – hardy small succulents with colourful leaves; full sun and well-drained soil.

Caladium bicolour [SOURCE :BOOK (HOUSE PLANTS : SIMON & SCHUSTER)]

Thank you