Plants of the month Foliage plants
Use evergreen foliage plants to create interest and a tranquil atmosphere in your garden.
WWhen planning a garden bed, your first consideration is usually the colour of the flowers you’d like to plant. But, says Helia Smit, horticulturist at Joostenbergvlakte’s Cape Garden, don’t forget about foliage plants. They offer more benefits than you think!
“A combination of different types of foliage adds interest to a garden. Green has a calming effect and a bed filled with leafy plants with various textures, shapes and shades of green is most impressive!”
Helia says green plays another valuable role in your garden: “Evergreen foliage plants and shrubs make your garden look good the whole year round, unlike flowering plants which only add colour for a specific period of time. Foliage plants also add depth to your garden if you combine them in varying heights, they provide essential textural contrast if you use plants with big leaves, and they also create contrast if you combine them with other colours.”
Ideas and combinations Helia suggests the following:
• Choose a variety of foliage plants – some with big leaves such as delicious monster (Monstera deliciosa) or elephant’s ear (Alocasia macrorrhiza), and others with delicate leaves such as leather-leaf fern (Rumohra adiantiformis), maidenhair fern (Adiantum raddianum) or asparagus fern (Asparagus syn. Protasparagus densiflorus ‘Sprengeri’). • Combine plants with elongated leaves such as cast-iron plant (Aspidistra elatior) or Liriope muscari ‘Evergreen Giant’ with plants with big, round leaves such as Philodendron selloum or delicious monster. • Combine the dark green leaves of Philodendron ‘Xanadu’ or wild rhubarb (Acanthus mollis) with the lighter green foliage of cat’s tail fern (Asparagus densiflorus ‘Meyersii’) and the leather-leaf fern. The colour contrast is striking! >>