For Seasonal Sparkle, Try Gold And Silver Plants

Whether it’s the golden flowers of winter jasmine or the silver-grey foliage of artemisia, if you want your plot to dazzle, try plants in these precious hues, says Louise Curley

- Louise Curley

WHO needs tinsel when you can festoon your plot with plants that will add festive sparkle beyond the Christmas period. Look to foliage and flowers in metallic hues of gold and silver, and they’ll make the garden gleam whatever the time of year.

In the botanical world, gold is found in shades of yellow with warm tones, rather than those with zesty, lime green tints. Leaves can be all-gold or burnished with mottles or stripes that combine with green. These colours work particularly well in the colder months, when golden foliage and flowers brighten up gloomy days and glisten in low winter sunlight. Gold leaves don’t have as much chlorophyll, (the pigment that absorbs sunlight and fuels plant growth), as green ones. This means they need quite a bit of sun to grow strongly; however, they can also be scorched by intense sunlight, so the ideal spot is a border that has some shade from the midday summer sun, where they’ll add a subtle glow without looking washed out. Take care not to overdo it; for the greatest impact use golden foliage sparingly, and mix it with plenty of greenery.

Silver service

For silver, look to shades of grey, which bring a cool, elegant feel to a border and, on frosty winter days, will enhance the icy feel. Some plants have leaves that are completely silvery-grey, while others combine grey and green to form variegated foliage with pretty, marbled patterns. Evergreen silvers such as lavender and varieties of euonymus can be clipped into low hedges or mounds to give a formal feel; this also adds structure in winter, when the relative lack of foliage and flowers makes a strong ‘backbone’ crucial.