Moonlighting!
The Gardener|August 2019

By day silvery leaves stand out gently between all the different shades of green. But when illuminated by only the light of the moon, they create a magical lustre…

Anna Celliers
Moonlighting!

A GALLERY OF SILVERS

Lavandula stoechas ‘Silver Anouk’

Outstanding silver-white foliage with a blue cast.

Fragrant dark violet flowers topped with lavender bracts or petals in spring – reblooming in other seasons.

Sprightly upright growth habit (46cm x 36cm).

Use in borders, as a low hedge or plant your ‘Silver Anouk’ in a pot.

Lychnis coronaria (rose campion)

Perennial or biennial grown for both its silvery-grey velvety leaves and a profusion of flowers in spring and summer.

Clump-forming with ovate, densely woolly leaves.

Perfect for mass planting in a border.

Size approximately 80cm x 45cm.

Podalyria sericea (silver sweet pea bush)

Very decorative but unfortunately vulnerable indigenous shrub.

The soft evergreen, silky, silver-grey foliage gives the whole plant a shiny lustre.

Pretty pink pea-like flowers appear in winter and are followed by swollen velvety seed pods.

Growth habit is rounded and neat (1m x 1m).

Silver- or grey-leaved garden plants are mainly planted because of their functionality – they are mostly heat and drought tolerant due to hairy or waxy leaf surfaces and their ability to reflect sunlight and prevent water loss. But there is another reason to fill your garden with a lot of silver-foliaged plants and to combine them with light yellow, cream and white flowers – fashion!

A garden trend for 2019 is to extend the time you spend in your garden by planting a ‘moonlight’ look with plants that don’t disappear in the dark, but rather come to the forefront.

We like this trend and picked out some stalwarts to create that magical, mystical atmosphere by the light of the full moon.

This story is from the August 2019 edition of The Gardener.

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This story is from the August 2019 edition of The Gardener.

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