Notebook

Create a luxury look with glossy plants and black accessories

Marbled, mottled or striped leaves bring flashes of gold, silver, cream or white to planting schemes. Variegation occurs naturally, but most of our favourites have been especially cultivated to enhance their eye-catching colour effect. When incorporating a variegated plant into a border scheme, stick with either hot or cold hues, rather than mix warm green and gold plants with cool silver ones.

● Marbled: Leaf veins traced with silver look ‘marbled’ or frosted. Use shade-tolerant Arum italicum ‘Marmoratum’ (H30cm/12in, S15cm/6in), Cyclamen hederifolium (H12cm/5in, S15cm/6in) and Brunnera macrophylla ‘Jack Frost’ (H40cm/18in, S60cm/ 2ft).

● Striped: Narrow-leaved plants and grasses with variegated margins look stripy. Try Euphorbia characias ‘Silver Swan’ (H and S1m/ 3ft 3in), and Carex oshimensis ‘Evergold’ (H30cm/12in, S35cm/14in).

● Mottled and spotted: Silver-splotched pulmonarias (H30cm/12in, S50cm/20in) or Lamium maculatum (H15cm/6in, S6cm/2in) brighten a shady spot. Houttuynia cordata ‘Chameleon’ (H30cm/12in, S1m/3ft 3in) has green, red and yellow patterned leaves while those of Aucuba japonica (H and S3m/10ft) are splashed with yellow.