Using Grey

The bird of paradise, Strelitzia reginae, is a wonderful landscaping plant. It has silvery grey, paddle shaped leaves with a spiky look about them, and beautiful blue and orange flowers which look just like the crests of exotic birds. There can be a bit of a problem though, when you try to mix grey foliaged plants like strelitzia with other green plants in the garden - they can often look a little out of place.

What to do?

To demonstrate just how easy it really is to use grey plants in the garden, Don selected a tropical range of plants and grouped them together, using a mixture of colours (grey, silver, green and burgundy) and also varying the foliage shapes. It was just like putting together an arrangement of flowers, except this was very much a foliage arrangement.

The plants

Don chose several plants with upright, silvery grey, spiky foliage - bird of paradise (Strelitzia reginae), behind that a Bismark palm (Bismarkia nobilis) and two yuccas (Yucca elephantipes) on either side. Ctenanthes (Ctenanthe sp.) were also added to the group, they have silvery grey upper leaves with a deep burgundy reverse. Two young oyster plants (Acanthus mollis) and a Sago palm (Cycas revoluta) were included to break away from the upright form of the other plants.

Further information

It's a good idea to go along to your local nursery and talk to the horticulturists. They will help you select plants with silvery grey foliage which will be suitable for your climate, and will blend well with the other plants in your garden.

Copyright CTC Productions 1999