Best Way to Choose Plants for Your Garden’s Corner

A corner packed with plants that reveal attractive leaves is a delight during summer-and often throughout the year, if evergreens are chosen, if the area is badly drained, construct a raised bed about 30cm high. Also, if the subsoil is chalky, this is an excellent way to grow shallow-rooting plants that dislike alkaline conditions.

The range of plants suitable for creating striking foliage corners is remarkably wide. Many of these plants have magnificent architectural form as well as strong colors and textures in their leaves and stems, and they are readily available in garden centres, growing in containers and ready for planting in the garden. Attractive, variously shaped and colored foliage will always contrast well with floriferous plants and other garden features. Here are some ideas for a few herbaceous plants, annuals, biennials and grasses that go well together and that you could consider for a foliage corner in your garden.

Herbaceous plants

These are plants that reveal colorful foliage throughout summer – and sometimes into winter. There is a wide and readily available range of plants to choose from:

• Alchemilla mollis (lady’s mantle): Light green, hairy leaves surmounted from early to mid-summer by yellow-green flowers. This plant is ideal for the edge of a border. Height: 30-45cm Plant: 30-38cm apart.
• Heuchera ‘Pewter Moon’: Leaves subtly marbled pewter above, with a deep maroon tone below. Height: 25-38cm Plant: 38-45cm apart.
• Melissa officinalis ‘Aurea’ (golden balm): Golden-green, nettle-like and toothed-edged leaves. Height: 45-60cm Plant: 30-45cm apart.
• Rodgersiapodophylla: Mid-green, horse-chestnut-like leaves and delicate, pale buff flowers during early and mid-summer. Height: 90cm-1.2m Plant: 60cm apart.
• Scrophularia auriculata ‘Variegata’ (previously known as S. aquatica ‘Variegata’, and popularly as variegated water figwort): Green leaves attractively splashed and covered with rich, creamy stripes. Height: 60-90cm Plant: 38-450cm apart.
• Stachys byzantina (lamb’s tongue): Oval, mid-green leaves densely covered with white-silver hairs that have a woolly nature. Height: 30-45cm Plant: 30-45cm apart.

Half-hardy annuals

Several half-hardy annuals have attractively colored or variegated leaves. These plants are raised from seeds sown in gentle warmth in early spring and planted into borders when all risk of frost has passed. These include Amaranthus tricolor (Joseph’s coat), Brassica ‘Northern Lights’ (ornamental cabbage), Bassia scoparia ‘Trichophylla’ (previously known as Kochia scoparia ‘Trichophylla’, and popularly as summer cypress), Perilla frutescens ‘Nankinensis’, and Zeamays (ornamental sweet corn).