Grey Foliage Plants

Apr 19 2012 02:19 AM | ATL in Landscaping Ideas

Landscape Design using foliage colour can significantly improve the visual appearance of your landscape. Foliage colour can be used to provide subtle or contrasting colour variations and create distinctive styled gardens.

The blue grey, silver, and green grey foliage plants can be used to create some interesting landscapes.They are particularly useful in in coastal and mediterranean gardens. There are many different variants of grey foliage from the whitish silvers to the greeny blue greys. Most grey foliage plants are also drought tolerant because grey foliage reflects more sunlight and heat. They are generally found in dry climates like the Mediterranean and Australia.

The following is a small list of some grey foliage plants

Trees

Botanical Name: Banksia integrifolia
Common Name: Coast Banksia
Native to Australia
Description: Evergreen tree to 16 metres with a narrow habit which make its ideal for narrow spaces. Coast Banksia has green leaves with a silvery underside. It has pale yellow flowers which appear from mid summer to mid winter. Banksia integrifolia is ideal for coastal, native and mediterranean gardens.
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Botanical Name: Olea europaea
Common Name: Olive Trees
Native to coastal areas of the Mediterranean
Description: The Olea europaea is a small tree to 8m tall with dull green to grey foliage. The undersides of the leaves are lighter giving the tree a green grey foliage.
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Shrubs

Botanical Name: Lavandula dentata
Common Name: French Lavender
Native to the Mediterranean
Description: French Lavender is a shrub to 1m tall and wide with grey green foliage.The leaves are toothed with a furry texture. They have purple flowers on long spikes that protrude slightly above the foliage. French Lavender has aromatic foliage and flowers. They can be used as an edging plant, in rockeries or planted in mass groupings.
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Botanical Name: Metrosideros excelsa
Common Name: New Zealand Christmas Bush
Native to New Zealand
Description: Evergreen tree to a height of 15m and a similar spread. It is often trimmed into hedge ranging from 1m to 3m. Foliage is dark green but new shoots are silvery grey colour. Metrosideros flowers from November to January with masses of red flowers. Can be used as a feature trees, in coastal gardens and as a clipped hedge.

Botanical Name: Stachys byzantine lanata
Common Name: Lamb’s Ears
Native to Turkey, Armenia and Iran
Description: Stachys is a perennial herb that flowers in late spring and early summer. The flowers form on erect stems and are usually light purple. The leaves are soft from a covering of fine white hairs that droop at towards the tip, giving them a lamb's ears likeness. The foliage is silvery as a result.

Botanical Name: Leucophyta brownii 'Silver Nugget'
Common Name: Cushion bush
Native to Australia
Description: Cushion Bush is a small dense shrub to 0.5m tall with tomentose branches and leaves. It has White to Yellow flowers that are about 1 cm in diameter. It can be used in coastal gardens and as a ground cover on mass or in rockeries.

Botanical Name: Westringia fruticosa
Common Name: Native Rosemary
Native to Australia
Description: Westringias generally have a well rounded habit and improve with regular trimming. If left they can become woody in the centre and branches can fall off. The foliage is Green to grey and new leaves have fine white hairs which create a silvery effect. The Flowers about 2 cm in size with no scent. Westringia is only similar to Rosemary through form leaf shape. Westringias can reach 2m in height by 5 metres in width.
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Groundcovers

Botanical Name: Cerastium tomentosum
Common Name: Snow in Summer
Native to Alpine areas in Europe
Description: Cerastium is a low spreading shrub or groundcover to 30 cms high with soft silvery grey foliage. It has white flowers which come out in mass during summer. This gives the imitation of snow clumps. It has a dense habit which makes it useful as a ground cover planted on mass.

Botanical Name: Chrysocephalum apiculatum
Common Name: Yellow Buttons
Native to Australia
Description: Yellow Buttons is found in every state of Australia and varies in foliage and form. In NSW Yellow Buttons are approximately 20 cms tall with most of the foliage resting on the ground where it bends up at the end. The button like yellow flowers grow from the vertical shoots. It is drought tolerant and mostly frost tolerant. It prefers a sunny position as it can become open in the shade of trees. Use in rockeries and as a mass groundcover.

Botanical Name: Festuca glauca
Common Name: Blue Fescue
Native to Europe
Description: Blue Fescue is a clumping dome shaped grass with a height of approximately 150 to 200mm. The foliage is blue grey and finely textured. It prefers well drained soil and a sunny position. Flowers in spring with a green to pink flower which is slightly taller than the foliage.
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Botanical Name: Santolina chamaecyparissus
Common Name: Cotton Lavender
Native to the Mediterranean
Description: Cotton Lavender is a low shrub to 60 cms high. It has lavender like foliage with yellow cotton bud flowers which open in late summer. It prefers well drained soils and full sun. Santolina can be used in Mediterranean style gardens and coastal gardens as a groundcover, rockery plant or edging plant.

Botanical Name: Tulbaghia violacea
Common Name: Society Garlic
Native to Southern Africa
Description: Society Garlic has green to grey leaves and is a grass like clumping plant reaching half a metre tall. The leaves have a garlic smell when crushed. It flowers heavily during the summer months with masses of violet coloured flowers. Society Garlic is great as an edging plant or planted in mass as a groundcover. It likes well drained soils with compost but will tolerate most soils.
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Grey Foliage Plants