Bold Foliage Plants for Creating Colorful Garden Combinations
Create long-lasting garden drama with bold foliage plants; here are three to try, plus eye-catching companions for each
Try these plants with bold foliage for impact
Bold strokes of color enliven garden borders. But instead of concentrating on a favorite flower color, incorporate different leaf and stem hues across multiple plants. This nearly always creates a multi-seasonal landscape that stays interesting even when plants stop blooming.
Most foliage mutations in plants fall into four distinct categories: blue-green, maroon, yellow and variegated. Simply sprinkle something from one of these four categories among your favorite green-leaved plants, and you'll never miss. Here are some boldly colored favorites plus easy, equally vibrant flowering companions.
1. Ninebark
Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius; USDA Zones 3–8) is a shaggy-barked, fine-leaved eastern native shrub with a spreading, fountain-like habit. Upright pom-poms of blush-white flowers bloom along the stems in spring, followed by dangling orange-tan seedpods. Vigorous and easy to propagate by stem layering, this shrub prefers moist conditions, yet it adapts to most soil types and even tolerates drought once established. It has benefited from several breeding programs focused on foliage color.
A ninebark for every color palette
Purple-hued cultivars include the large Summer Wine Black (‘SMNPMS’) and Panther (‘N5’), both reaching four to eight feet tall and wide—a dramatic backdrop to smaller plants. Meanwhile Tiny Wine (‘SMNPOTW’) ninebark grows just half as big yet offers the same dusky foliage. Its fraternal twin, Tiny Wine Gold (‘SMNPOTWG’), supplies chartreuse foliage for those who prefer a bright spot in the landscape.
Still other introductions offer bright, mutable shades of orange and rust, like the four- to six-foot Amber Jubilee (‘Jefam’), Ginger Wine (‘SMNPOBLR’) and the newer Savannah Sunset (‘LP1’). There’s a ninebark to suit any palette. Their colors and textures can be compared to barberry (Berberis thunbergii) and Japanese spiraea (Spiraea japonica), such that ninebarks can serve as spineless, less aggressive, native replacements for these shrubs.
Related Article: Spicy Devil Ninebark Is a Compact Native Shrub
Plants to pair with ninebark for a bold foliage combination
Pair ninebark with hardy hibiscus (Hibiscus cvs.), whose main feature is its huge mid- to late summer flowers; and cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), which also blooms in midsummer and onward, with spikes of tiny red tubular flowers. Both of these will draw in hummingbirds, as a bonus!
2. Blue Deodar Cedar
‘Devinely Blue’ is a cultivar of Cedrus deodara (Zones 6–10) often sold as ‘Divinely Blue’. While that name is technically incorrect (the real name honors nurseryman Bill Devine), its meaning is spot on; the powder blue-green foliage of this semi-prostrate, semi-dwarf evergreen is certainly divine! Its striking color and soft, spiky texture and slower, spreading size make it a more flexible choice than other deodars and a perfect shrub for tucking into sunny slopes.
Slow growing, the young plants have a rather flat and languid habit, averaging one to three feet tall and twice as wide. With time, they begin to grow upright and more conical, eventually reaching four to six feet tall in advanced age—the height increasing the drama of the drooping branches. Native to the Himalayas, once established this true cedar is drought tolerant and takes heat and humidity better than other blue conifers.
Create a bold combination with blue deodar cedar
Pair blue deodar cedars with gold or blue selections of scaly-leaved conifers and shrubby dogwoods with colorful winter stems.
Related Article: Dwarf Evergreens Add Winter Interest
3. Hydrangeas with dark foliage
Outside of a select handful of curiosities—like the purple-foliaged Hydrangea aspera 'Burgundy Bliss' (Zones 7-9)—hydrangeas are not really known for leaf colors outside of cabbage green. Occasionally, cultivars of H. macrophylla or H. serrata show ornamental bronzing or reddish new growth, but these garden favorites are more loved for their flowers.
Eclipse hydrangea
Therefore H. m. Eclipse ('Bailmacseven'; Zones 5–9), dubbed the first solidly dark-leaved hydrangea cultivar, has captured a lot of attention since its recent wide release in North America. Shaggy, midsized bicolored purple to bright fuchsia-red blossoms with soft white-pink centers pop against its maroon-black foliage, which lasts with consistent morning sun. Growing four to six feet tall and wide, Eclipse® blooms on old wood.
Miss Saori (‘H2002’) stays a bit smaller and blooms on old and new growth, with double-petaled cotton candy–pink flowers and leaves that offer a ruby-chocolate tone in spring and autumn, or through summer with more sun. The two- to three-foot Kimono (‘Hokomabebos’) has dark plum-flushed foliage and cranberry-toned picotee flowers with white centers. It also blooms on old and new wood.
Tuxedo series
Other new dark-leaved hydrangeas to watch for include the Tuxedo series (Zones 6–9), featuring four cultivars, including ‘Black Tie’, a red-flowered shrub with plum-colored leaves. (Note: All of these red- or pink-flowered hydrangeas may show purple to bluish petals in acidic soil.)
Pair dark hydrangeas with chartreuse foliage
Pair dark hydrangeas with Lemony Lace elderberry (Sambucus racemosa ‘SMNSRD4’; Zones 4–7) and Aralia cordata ‘Sun King’, both eye-catching shrubs grown for their chartreuse foliage.
