Combination Plantings

I love the use of different textures and plant heights for layering in the landscape. Let’s take a look at a great example at the North Mississippi Research and Extension Center in Verona. If you know me you know I love Hawaiian shirts, so it should come to no surprise that I love these varieties of tropical elephant ears. Blue Hawaii has leaves with prominent bluish purple veins with undulating edges. Diamond Head has intense jet black leaves with corrugated texture. Maui Gold has chartreuse leaves with small purple dots and looks great with the black leaved Diamond Head. Sun coleus is a must have in any landscape. Henna should be at the top of the list with its greenish gold toned leaves brushed with burgundy. A great selection is Trusty Rusty which is showing a lot more chartreuse as the season progresses. Redhead is maintaining its bright red colored foliage for the autumn season. Big Bounce impatiens, while thought be better in the shade, have the potential to produce masses of pretty flowers in the full sun. These plants even with CONSISTENT moisture will look a little wilty on a hot afternoon. Now the Color Rush petunias have been very impressive in the trials this year. As you can see the pink, white and blue colors still look really good at the end of a tough summer. For variety and landscape interest always try to mix different types of plants in your gardens. I’m horticulturist Gary Bachman and I’ll see you next time on Southern Gardening.