IT’S EASY BEING GREEN PART 2
WHAT ABOUT CREATING INTEREST WITH VARIEGATED PLANTS?
ONE of the greatest challenges garden designers are faced with, is creating a garden from a palette of soft (plants, mulches etc.) and hard (paving, walls, structures) landscaping elements, primarily with the intention of keeping the interest of those humans who own, use, or visit the garden for recreational and other pursuits.
Good designers realise that while hard elements can be painted, stained, modified, moved, removed and maybe replaced, many plants need to be chosen carefully, as they can be the mainstay of a garden’s framework, background, colour scheme and textural look for a very long time indeed.
Choice, according to suitability and adaptability to the growing conditions of the site, is paramount, followed by the intended
use for the plant, and then the fine tuning begins, with mature height and width, leaf shape, size and texture, flower colour and season, and maintenance requirements all figuring in the final decision of which plant goes where...phew!
Really clever designers know that seasonal features (autumn foliage, flower colour) can be fleeting when attempting to hold the interest of the garden visitor.
These really clever designers then turn to the use of foliage colour to keep the garden view intriguing, and the visitor wanting more as they journey through the landscape.
Foliage colour can be essentially monochrome (shades and tints of green, and other singular hues), or multi-coloured or variegated.
Last week’s article showed the beauty of some of the red and purple-leaved beauties we can grow.
Why don’t we have a gander at variegated plants this week?
Variegation in plants can be caused by a lack of chlorophyll in parts of the leaf (or stem), may be an overabundance of other pigments (usually reds, purples and yellows), or sometimes as a result of the introduction of a virus to plant tissues.
Now some gardeners have a strong dislike of variegation in plants, preferring to surround themselves with green, and only green.
Others could be described as variegation fanatics, constantly on the lookout for the most minute of “variegation variation” so as to snavel that elusive one-off plant for their collection.
Our clever designers know that careful placement of variegated plants can create drama and interest in an otherwise green garden, but overuse can cause relative chaos and leave the garden visitor with a lingering, slightly bitter visual aftertaste.
Modern plant breeding techniques have produced a veritable variegated vegetative smorgasbord from which we gardeners can choose.
Grassy and strap-leaved plants now have many variegated selections, with some beaut Australian native cultivars being recently released.
Dianella revoluta ‘Silver Streak’, D. tasmanica ‘Wyeena’ and ‘Destiny’ are tough native flax varieties, with the latter two having good frost tolerance.
Lomandra has had the stripey treatment as well, with ‘Lucky Stripe’ and ‘Variegated Tanika’ recently released.
Exotics such as Liriope ‘Silverstar’ and L. ‘Pure Blonde’, (may burn in full sun) are great for semi-shaded to full shade positions.
Agapanthus ‘Golden Drop’, ‘Goldstrike’ and ‘Summer Gold’ are all great variegated Aggies, with ‘Goldstrike’ having striking black flower stems around midsummer.
Other strap-leaved/grassy plants to consider are Miscanthus sinensis ‘Variegata’ and ‘Zebrinus’, Ophiopogon (Mondo Grass) ‘Silver Edge’ and ‘Stripey White’, and the many variegated Iris selections.
From the range of variegated shrubs available at your local garden centre, look for Metrosideros (NZ Christmas Bush) ‘Variegata’, ‘Lemon Twist’ and ‘Cream Ridge’, and Pittosporum ‘James Stirling Variegated’, ‘Irene Patterson’ and ‘Tarata’, all great specimen plants, as well as brilliant hedging candidates.
One cannot omit the range of variegated Coprosma (Mirror plant) cultivars from this list, including old favourites like ‘Marble Queen’ and ‘Variegata’, as well as stunning compact varieties such as ‘Fireburst’, ‘Evening Glow’, ‘Tequila Sunrise’ and ‘Rainbow Surprise’, these with the added attraction of even more brilliant colouring in cold winters.
Variegated climbers and creepers can brighten up a fence or screen as well. Climbers to consider are variegated Star Jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides ‘Tricolour’), the variegated Potato Vine (Lycianthes rantonnetii ‘Variegata’), and the Australian Wonga Vine (Pandorea jasminoides ‘Charisma’).
Some outstanding variegated trees will suit medium to large residential gardens.
One of my favourites is the variegated water gum (Tristaniopsis laurina ‘Variegata’), a very attractive small to medium evergreen native tree.
Another beauty we have growing at TAFE Horticulture is Acer negundo ‘Flamingo’, a medium-sized deciduous tree, with pink new growth turning green and cream at maturity.
On a trip to Tasmania a number of years ago, I vividly recall the most striking Silver Elm (Ulmus minor ‘Variegata’) at the Salmon Pond gardens.
This is a beauty for a large garden or parkland area.
Remember these few pointers about variegated plants:
1. They generally need more sunlight than all-green plants, except 2. those plants with very light yellow or white leaves – full sun can burn them easily. 3. Remove any branches that emerge all green. This is “reversion”, a form of growth that can eventually cause the variegation to die out. 4. Use variegated plants carefully in the garden, not too many please.
GARDEN CUTTINGS
There’s an air of anticipation among the weather soothsayers that we are approaching a very, very wet part of summer. Make sure you maximise your ability to capture as much rainfall as possible by checking and cleaning the gutters and downpipes that feed your rainwater tanks now.