Silver in Your Garden

Fall Gardening Tips

Chrysanthemums provide the brightest colors for fall—choose them in bloom now at your nursery. Feed fuchsias, begonias, summer annuals, and container plants to keep them green and blooming until frost.

• Matilija poppies are a hardy perennial with flowers resembling “fried eggs.” Plant them in a sunny spot with good drainage.
• Tree collards are delicious winter vegetables—set out plants now.
• Fall vegetables can be planted now for a harvest of broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, chard, and lettuce.

Designing a Silver Garden

One of the joys of garden design is working with color. While flowers bring vibrant hues, foliage offers subtle possibilities. Gray gardens, a tradition in England, are easy to create with drought-tolerant, silver-leafed plants. A garden of silvery foliage and calming lavender and blue shades can be a relaxing retreat. Many of these perennials are fragrant, and their reflective leaves enhance moonlight, making them ideal near patios or decks.

Gray-leafed plants thrive in full sun with excellent drainage and moderate summer watering. They tolerate wind, rocky soil, and are often deer-resistant.

Plant Recommendations

• Lavender (Lavendula ‘Provence’): Grows 3–4 feet tall and wide, with fragrant bright blue flowers suitable for potpourri or lavender wands.
• Russian Sage (Perovskia): A graceful, upright shrub with lavender-blue flowers atop silvery stems and finely cut foliage.
• Wallflower (‘Bowles Mauve’): A landscape shrub blooming purple flowers from February to July.
• Lamb’s Ear: Known for woolly, silver-gray foliage; ‘Silver Carpet’ is a non-blooming variety.
• Teucrium fruticans: A silver-foliaged evergreen shrub with azure blue flowers attracting bees and butterflies.
• Culinary Sage (Salvia officinalis): Features lavender-blue flowers and wrinkled, gray-green leaves used in cooking.
• White Sage (Salvia apiana): A native shrub with whitish aromatic foliage and lavender-tinged white blossoms, popular in smudge bundles.
• Rose Campion (Lychnis coronaria): An easy-to-grow perennial with fuzzy gray leaves and magenta flowers.
• Lavender Cotton (Santolina chamaecyparissus): A fragrant, dense mound with grayish-silver foliage and bright yellow button flowers.
• ‘Moonshine’ Yarrow: Finely cut silvery leaves with yellow flower heads on 2–3 foot stems.
• Dusty Miller: A classic choice that pairs well with any plant.

Explore the world of silver and blue to create a unique garden space.