Designing With Plants - Foliage Colour

Designing with Plants using Foliage Colour can significantly improve the visual appearance of your landscape or garden design. Foliage Colour can be used to provide subtle or contrasting Colour variations and or provide visually aesthetic focal points that are eye catching and interesting.

When choosing Plants for Foliage Colour within your landscape design you have to be aware that some Foliage Colours might occur all year round while some might be seasonal. The seasonal Foliage Plants can be highly useful in the same way flowering Plants can be. These Plants bring a changing appearance to the landscape and are very useful for creating interest and transitional Colour year round. For example Syzygium 'Royal Flame' have green Foliage but during Spring the new growth have red tips so the whole shrub/hedge takes on a red tinge. Another example is Nyssa sylvatica, which will provide a beautiful display of bright orange and red Autumn Foliage.
Plants that hold their Colour all year round can provide interesting and contrasting Colour to a landscape design where by planting layering through groundcovers and hedges can have subtle or bold Colour differences. Singular Foliage Coloured Plants can also be used as features or focal points within a landscape design.

Green is the main Colour for Plants and is caused by Chlorophyll in the leaves which is part of the process of photosynthesis. Green is therefore an easy Colour for use as a good back drop to a landscape planting design. Tthe grey and blue greens can also be used to provide subtle changes. Other Colours can then be used to accentuate focal points, pathway nodes/ intersections, or break up the back ground of green and become accents focal points in themselves. The blue grey, silver, and green grey Foliage Plants can be used to create some interesting landscape designs especially when used in coastal gardens. Reds, yellows or orange can be used well to create highlights, i.e one feature plant.

Colour can be important in plant selection for bold and interesting landscape and garden designs.

Plants Foliage can widely vary in Colour and I was a little surprised when putting this list together how many Colours came to mind. The following are some of the Colours in that list with some Plants that are associated to the Colours;

Light to Mid Green: Plumbago, Gymea Lilies, Callistemon's, Melaleuca's

Dark Green: Clivea miniata, Spathyphilum, Iron Castor plant, Photinia, Camellias, Murraya

Yellow: Autumn Foliage of Poplar's, London Plane Trees, Foliage Colours for Durunta and some of the year of Robinia and Gleditsia tricanthos

Orange/Copper: Phormium Bronze Baby or the new Foliage for some Syzygium's

Red/ Burgundy Photinia (New Foliage), Cordyline Burgundy Spire, Pennisetum 'Rubrum'

Silver/Grey: Gazania varieties, Society Garlic

Green Grey: Westringia fruticosa,

Blue Grey: Juniperus, Festuca glauca (Blue Festcue), Themeda 'Mingo', Dianella revoluta

Variegated Foliage: Spider Plant Chlorophytum comosum, Dianella Silver Streak, Mother In laws Tongue.

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