The green and white borders around the dining area in our garden are creating a cool courtyard feel which was the plan when we designed them – an oasis to enjoy on warm, still summer evenings!
The white Phlox ‘David’ lights up the area below the Fatsia japonica with flat faced, scented flowers that are loved by bees and other insects as well as myself. A Pineapple Mint embroiders the front of this border, lacing through the Phlox without being invasive as are many of its cousins!
Both the Mint and the Fatsia are primarily grown for their foliage and there are plenty of other plants in this area whose leaves are big contributors to the cool ‘jungle’ feel. A spotted leaved Pulmonaria produces welcome glistening white flowers early in the year - vital food for early bumble bees as they forage on warm winter days. Now it has made a good ground covering clump of coarse leaves, shading the Snowdrop bulbs that are dormant beneath building their reserves for next spring’s show.
Lysimachia ‘Candela’ is yet to flower but is full of green buds that will soon burst to reveal pointed spikes of star shaped white flowers. This brilliant little plant spreads well through moist soil and is in flower for months from late summer until the autumn when the green and white theme is thrown off key by brilliant orange and yellow leaf colours before the plant dies back underground to emerge as red shoots next year.
Even the tall white flowered Buddleja gets in on the foliage act making a tower of gray green leaves soon to be topped with thick, scented spikes of ivory white flowers so loved by butterflies, Hummingbird Hawk moths and other insects. The Miscanthus ‘Cosmopolitan’ growing in front of the Butterfly Bush is a column of boldly marked green and white leaves, gently arching to soften the look whereas ‘Morning Light’ growing nearby is much more upright flaring slightly at the top to show off the deep purple feather duster flowers that do not come out until November if the plant bothers to flower at all!
In other areas of the garden there are also many plants grown for the value of the leaves rather than the fleeting show of their flowers, enjoyable as they are.
The golden leaved Viburnum opulus ‘Aureum’ glows in a shady corner under a tree-like Cotoneaster ‘Rothschildianus’ which blots out much of the light with its glossy evergreen leaves and clusters of felty white flowers that the bees adore. Nearby is one of my favourites, Abelia ‘Francis Mason’ with polished bronze leaves soon to be garlanded by clusters of soft pink, tubular flowers which will last for months and please us with late color and a beautiful scent. Tropical looking Euphorbia mellifera, the Honey Spurge grows behind this and makes a perfect dome of long, glossy leaves with a silver midrib. The plant bristles with bright green seed capsules which carry brown coated seeds that ping around the garden and grow away rapidly if we are not on alert!
Gardens are always changing and flowers are a fleeting part of many plants growing season. The leaves last much longer and should be enjoyed in their own right and even planned for when plants are purchased to replace those which have outgrown their space or are lost through old age or adverse weather conditions.
