Silver lining
Create contrast in your borders by mixing bold colour with grey and silver
Even in the coldest parts of the country it should now be safe to plant out summer bedding – with any luck the frosts will not return until early autumn. But there is another group of plants worth establishing now – those with grey and silver foliage.
Being covered in fine, silky hairs (as protection from scorching sun and drying winds in their native habitats) they deeply resent cold, wet weather, but the – hopefully – more pleasant conditions of June, July and August are much more to their liking.
They are also brilliant fillers and backgrounds for other plants, especially those with pastel flowers of pink and pale blue.
The artemisias are some of the best of these, and all have aromatic foliage that releases an aroma when brushed past.
Plant them in a sunny spot alongside a path to enjoy them to the full. Lad’s love (Artemisia abrotanum) is one of the easiest to grow and has sea-green leaves that are fluffy and filigree-like.
Taller, at around 2ft to 3ft, is ‘Powis Castle’. This is even more silvery, erupting like a white cloud in a bed or border. If its shoot tips become infested with blackfly, as they sometimes can in midsummer, just snip them off and the plant will become even bushier. Don’t let that put you off growing what is an otherwise excellent plant.
Most folk quite rightly regard convolvulus as a pernicious weed, but Convolvulus cneorum is anything but. Instead of those all-pervading roots and climbing stems with which bindweed infests our gardens, this one is a non-invasive shrub on whose leaves the silky hairs lie so flat that they really do appear to be made of silver. The
They make brilliant fillers and a background for your other plants
white trumpet flowers, pinkish in bud, decorate the plant in summer.
Even more spectacular flowers are to be had on the Jerusalem sage, Phlomis fruticosa. There, the upright stems of grey-green leaves are intermingled with hooded flowers in rich yellow.
It will grow 3ft high and rather more across in time, so it’s great in the background of a border.
Most grey and silver-leaved plants insist on full sun and well-drained soil. In damp earth and shade they will sulk and may well rot – but give them a spot in the ‘St Tropez’ part of your garden and they will luxuriate.
Garden pinks have wonderful grey leaves, too. Whiskery and hairless, they complement the fragrant flowers that are great for cutting.
‘Doris’, ‘Devon Wizard’, ‘Gran’s Favourite’ and – I blush to admit – ‘Alan Titchmarsh’ are excellent varieties for the front of a border (and before you ask, I am white with a green eye that is flushed with reddish pink).
They bloom all summer long with a succession of flowers, and when they start to age you can make more plants from shoot-tip cuttings.