Precious Metals

Brighten beds and containers with plants featuring gold, silver and copper hues.

- Kelsey Roseth

1 Gold Zebra foamy bells

HEUCHERELLA, ZONES 4 TO 9

Gold Zebra’s yellow and green leaves are accented with brilliant gold and blood-red centers. When watered regularly, this stunner tolerates heat and humidity as it grows up to 8 inches tall and wide. It thrives in full shade to part sun and is often used in containers or as an edging plant.

Why we love it: This deer-resistant wonder has showy white flowers that attract bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and other helpful pollinators.

2 Campfire coleus

PLECTRANTHUS SCUTELLARIODES, ANNUAL

Set your beds ablaze with the bright orange foliage of Campfire. This big, bold plant tolerates both part shade and full sun. Reaching about 28 inches tall and nearly as wide, it’s an evergreen perennial that won’t survive frost, so most gardeners grow it as an annual.

Why we love it: The National Gardening Association also highly recommends this hardy, beautiful, no-fail coleus for new gardeners.

3 Copper Cascade foamy bells

HEUCHERELLA, ZONES 4 TO 9

The rosy orange-gold foliage of Copper Cascade lasts throughout the year. This trailing plant mounds up to 12 inches tall and 30 inches wide when in full to part shade. Well-draining, moist soil helps retain its exceptional color. In the late spring to early summer, tiny white flowers appear.

Why we love it: It’s an alluring addition to containers and looks lovely spilling over landscape rocks.

4 Arkansas blue star

AMSONIA HUBRICHTII, ZONES 4 TO 9