GREEN WITH ENVY: Let silver shine in the garden

GREEN WITH ENVY: Let silver shine in the garden. Lamb's ear can add a touch of silver to your garden. Photo/STOCK IMAGE

Believe it or not, some people are bored with an all-green garden. Although with so many fabulous shades of green to see, I have yet to experience this boredom.

Lots of silver plants are available at the nursery or garden centres. The good news is that the majority of silver plants love lots of sun and are extremely drought-tolerant, reducing water consumption over the hot summer months. With heat waves in Toronto starting in July, gardeners have started to practice water conservation in their back yards.

There is a new series of Dianthus hybrids called the Scent First Series. Fragrant flowers create a showy display above evergreen foliage. The foliage is described as gray green or smoky green but some varieties such as Tickled Pink or Candy Floss look more silvery gray in colour.

In a sunny location with a well-drained soil, the typical bloom time lasts from May to October. Growth height ranges from six inches to one foot. I would plant these high performance perennials along a garden path where they can be enjoyed for their colour and fragrance.

Stachys byzantina (lamb's ear) has eye-catching silver foliage with a unique scent when rubbed with your fingers. It looks attractive when planted in a group or even combined with Dianthus. The silver foliage can cool down bright, hot colours in the garden and is useful for separating bold-coloured plantings so they don't overpower one another. It has a fabulous soft texture (feeling and resembling a lamb's ear), thrives in ordinary garden soil and requires minimal watering. In a small space, it's a good idea to clip the spikes of pinkish flowers to keep the perennial tidy and compact.

Caryopteris x clandonensis Dark Knight is a silver flowering perennial shrub with deep purple flower spikes in late summer to early fall. The flowers attract hummingbirds and butterflies plus the foliage is fragrant. This smaller shrub has a two-foot height and spread; cut back to about six inches in very early spring as it blooms on new wood every year.

Caryopteris is a lower maintenance plant choice, tolerant of drought conditions and blooms at a later time when most flowers in your garden are finished.

Think silver foliage for your sunny garden to tone down vibrant hot colours and provide a cool contrast.