Our flower gardens look pretty grey right
now, but I’m referring to the interesting and distinctive
grey plants that grow in the summer garden.
We don’t usually think of grey as an exciting color
for the flower garden but it is among the most versatile
colors. Grey plants separate colors that do not combine
well by serving as a neutral color. Greys are wonderful
partners with other plants. They can make pale colors seem
brighter and dark colors like purples and blues seem deeper.
Many of us already use the grey or silvery dusty miller
in combination with a variety of other annuals. In some
gardens we find the perennial artemisias and stachys or
lambs’ ears. Silver or grey furry plants look soft
and produce a soft effect. Smaller leaved, bushy silvery
plants are good for creating a cloud-like effect.
Artemisias won’t give us bold beautiful flowers but
the silver grey foliage gives foliage in a variety of sizes
and shapes. Artemisia is also known as wormwood, sage or
mugwort. One of the best known artemisias is “Silver
Mound” which forms a ball of finely cut silvery leaves.
To keep this plant from flopping open in the center later
in the season, prune it back to about two to three inches
in early summer. “Silver King” with its silvery-white
foliage reaches 36 inches. Just a bit shorter is “Silver
Queen” which also has slightly broader leaves than
“Silver King.” “Valerie Finnis”
has notched leaves and silvery green color to the foliage.
All artemisias love sun and average soil.
Perovskia or Russian Sage makes an excellent accent plant
in the sunny border and looks equally good in a mass planting.
It reaches a height of nearly 4 feet with its spikes of
light blue flowers. This a plant whose stiff stems will
add winter interest to the border. Perovskia prefers a well-drained
soil and tolerates dry soils. It’s a plant that seems
to thrive on neglect.
If a smaller grey plant is what you want, try dianthus or
pinks. The edging plant Dianthus gratianopolitanus or Cheddar
Pink grows 6 to 12 inches high and forms low mounds of gray
or blue green leaves. The single or double flowers in red,
white or pink are fragrant and the plant will rebloom throughout
the summer if old flowers are removed when they fade. There
are many other cultivars of pinks as well.
Stachys byzantia, also known as lamb’s ear, has soft,
furry silvery leaves that are a pleasure to touch. The leaves
really do look like lamb’s ears. Stachys grows in
full sun to partial shade and prefers well-drained soil.
Each rosette produces a stalk with small pink or purple
blossoms, which some people remove in order to maintain
the low appearance of the plant. Stachys creeps along the
ground but is not invasive.
Catmints or nepeta are dense, mounding plants with gray-green
aromatic leaves. Not everyone likes the aroma of catmint.
The blue, lavender, pink or white blooms last from early
summer into early fall. Low growing catmints work well in
the front of the border. If the taller varieties get floppy,
cut them back by half and they will quickly grow back and
bloom again. Faassen’s catmint is sterile so it doesn’t
need deadheading to prevent self-seeding. Cultivars include
the more compact “Blue Wonder” and the taller
“Dropmore.” “Six Hills Giant” grows
3 to 4 feet.
Artemisia, dianthus, lamb’s ears and catmint are probably
the most common grey/silver plants available to us. Look
through the seeds catalogs this winter and visit your garden
center next spring to find just the right one for your garden.
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