Fantastic foliage

The stars of such a garden are the foliage plants. Making the most of their variety, colour, texture and shape can produce an effect that is as beautiful as any flower garden. Besides the many shades of green, purple, red, blue, silver, and golden foliage all supply glowing colour for composing vibrant garden masterpieces.

Whether they are used for hedging, groundcovers, fillers, background plants, or feature plants, well thought out combinations give a garden depth, flow and personality.

From a practical perspective, predominantly foliage gardens are easy to maintain, they provide a constant show and are generally disease and pest-free.

Where green is the predominant colour, use different shades and interweave fine, delicate foliage with coarser leaves to provide interesting contrasts. A plant with bold dramatic foliage is most effective if used on its own as a specimen. Use blue and green foliage to create a cool and elegant link to other colours in the garden.

Purple foliage adds depth and colour to a garden, but should not be used extensively as it could be overwhelming. Red, rose pink and bronze foliage plants add warmth and drama to a garden. Like yellow flowers, yellow or chartreuse foliage lightens and brightens a garden.

There are few more colourful foliage plants than coleus and most gardeners are familiar with the dwarf variety, Wizard, that grows up to 25cm. It is an ideal bedding plant and provides an iridescent mix of lime green, gold, jade, scarlet, burgundy, and pink.

That was all there was, until the plant breeders started to get creative a few years ago. They started with Coleus Kong, which was named for its big, bold, multicoloured leaves that are twice the size of normal coleus. The leaf colours range from green and mosaic to red, rose and scarlet.

True to type, it is a plant for shade and is naturally compact, which is a useful characteristic for both garden use and container planting. Then the breeders did the unthinkable and produced three coleus varieties for full sun or shade. The most spectacular is aptly named Redhead. The more sun the plant receives, the redder its leaves become.

The same applies to Henna, another very attractive coleus with frilly, serrated leaf edges. Saturn has golden lime coloured leaves with burgundy edges and lime green scalloped margins.

All three grow into good-sized bushes, 50cm high and 60cm wide, and perform equally well in the garden or in a container. In large landscapes they can be massed to provide high-impact colour.

The most recent introductions are Sultana and Vino, which can also be planted in either full sun or shade. They do not easily bolt into flower.

Sultana has large scalloped leaves.

Vino has deep wine-colored leaves that grow darker in the sun.

Both plants have an upright growth, with a garden height of 46 to 76 cm.