Are the stories about the discounts dripping with gold and dripping with silver only a figment of the designers' imaginations, or maybe a legend passed from mouth to mouth by home-grown gardeners?No, the horticultural el dorado does exist.
Gold and silver, even if not of the highest quality, are painted on the leaves and shoots of many ornamental plants. Trees and large shrubs have the strongest influence on the appearance of the garden. They shimmer with gold from spring to autumn, among others ash maple 'Kelly's Gold', black locust 'Frisia' and catalpa.The best example of a tree with silver-gray leaves is the willowleaf pear - this species only sheds its leaves in late winter.
Among tall shrubs with beautiful silver leaves, the narrow-leaved olive Eleagnus angustifolia can boast. This feature is especially evident in warmer climates.A great alternative, and at the same time complementing silver-colored plantings, are plants with white and green leaves.This color is characteristic of pagoda dogwood 'Variegata' and Norway maple 'Drummondii', as well as a shrub - white dogwood of the 'Elegantissima' variety.
In flower beds, cover plants such as Periwinkle 'Aureovariegata' and Euonymus 'Emerald'n Gold', as well as ornamental grasses, such as calamus 'Tail', are golden. Next to them, plants with leaves covered with fine hairs silver. To trait of southern plants, such as old man, lavender and mugwort.
Live silver
Deciduous trees:narrow-leaved olive, 'Sericea' willow.
Trees coniferous : 'Boulevard' cypress, 'Glauca' pine.
Perennials : pink carnation, large-leaved brunner 'J'ack Frost', 'White Nancy' luminary.
Grasses ornamental : fescue, cyanobacteria.
Shades of silver and gold should be combined with other colors with sensitivity and care.The combinations with plants with shiny leaves are particularly difficult, because they are considered to be competitive due to the high power of optical influence.
The best company for silver and gold are pastels and white.Among the white-flowering plants, lilies and peonies are noteworthy.A real gem among ornamental plants at the turn of late summer and early autumn is the white snowball bearing a large amount of white spongy fruit.
Golden plants
Deciduous trees and shrubs : aralia 'Aureovariegata', gray alder 'Aurea', dogwood 'Aurea', privet 'Aureum', shrub 'Nana Variegata'.
Trees and coniferous shrubs : dwarf pine 'Wintergold', cypress' Ellwood's Gold ', yew' Semperaurea ', thuja' Rheingold '.
Perennials : funkia 'Sun Power', meadowsweet 'Aurea', lebiodka 'Thumbles Variety', sage 'Icterina'.
Grasses ornamental : Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola', sedge 'Evergold', husky 'Wintergold'.
