i am trying to construct a mostly grey garden bed, i tried it once before but it had many varieties of lavender and they all died when we had a tropical storm go through. today i have two types of artimisia, agave, a grey leaf begonia, licorice, and texas sage. can any one suggest other grey or green grey plants that might survive on saint simons ? the raised bed is has dappled sun from a large live oak in the summer and full sun in the winter. the bed also has purple lavender, purple iris, society garlic, mexican petunias ,purple sage, rocks and too many ferns which i am now in the process of moving as they were taking over. thanks for any suggestions, dooley worth.
grey foliage plants that do well in georgia
Would the chaste tree, or vitek grow in the area, it has a grey apperance.Mike
Is salt tolerance an issue? I have never lived on the coast but I would expect a tropical storm might blow in quite a bit of salt water. below is a list of plants that I have grown in Alabama and Georgia with various results. Some are tough as nails pass alongs that you could easily get from Dave's members. Others are probably nursery or mail order plants.
Graptopetalum paraguayense (sp?) Ghost plant- you can start babies from leaves. Ask and I am sure folks will send you some. Hardy in zone 8 likes good drainage
Lychnis coronarium Once you get it it reseeds but it is easy to transplant or pull up - nice silver foliage
Santolina - comes in grey or green foliage small yellow flowers
Stachys byzantina I have trouble with this one but some folk seem to just throw it on the ground and it thrives
Rue blue grey foliage
Yucca - some have very glaucous leaves also look for varigated
Bromeliads (winter protection needed?) Aechmea is a nice genus to look at for grey or banded grey leaves A. fasciata is the one with the big cluster of pink bracts and little blue violet flowers. If you get one and it flowers, you will find that mama plant throws several pups that grow quickly
Sedum some have a grey bloom to the foliage some have a wvite varigation that lends a grey appearence, Oddly enough sedums don't seem to like the south as much as I think they should some, however do well and give a soft texture
Sempervivum especially the cobweb forms The size of the rosettes differs widely and would add an interesting texture around the agave
Kalanchoe, the mother of thousands type that are hardy in north Florida might do well, they tend to turn purple in the sun but have a silver or grey varigation on the leaves
Aloe, there is a form that is hardy here in Cordele, it has a bright coral flower the foliage is not as grey as Agave americana
Salvia varieties Look for the ones the Texas gardeners use
Japanese painted fern
Beth
Soulgardenlove's two picture combinations of marigolds with Artemisia schmidtiana "Silver Mound" got my attention on how silver foliage plants can add great dimension to a garden. I now have Artemisia "Silver Mound" thanks to her inspiration.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/120191/
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/120199/
I also like the Dusty Miller species of Artemisia 'Sliver King' for its height.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/54934/
I also grow grey santolina, "x-intermedia" lavenders (like grosso or province) and a variety of spanish lavenders.
Several echivereas have silver leaves like "topsy turvy". I keep these pulled up on the porch in the winter to keep dry. They do fine here for
hardiness if kept dryer when it is cold.
GGG
niqiq77: yes, i love the chaste tree i have two, one large bush size and one old tree that is quite large, both are too big for the "kitchen garden i am working on which is on the small size. i should have mentioned that, thanks for your input, dooley
miqiq77: yes, i love the chaste tree i have two, one large bush size and one old tree that is quite large, both are too big for the "kitchen garden i am working on which is on the small size. i should have mentioned that, thanks for your input, dooley
turtle_35206: although there is salt water on the east side of the island i.e. the atlantic i am not sure its a real problem here in the middle of the island. the water that killed all my lavenders was tropical storm tammy. i hate to admit it but i don't know if tropical storms contain salt water. thanks for your list i can't wait to see what i can find, not much here but then its the middle of summer too. i have japanese painted ferns that were grey when i bought them but they have metamorphed first into green and now brownish yellow, they are probably getting to much sun now that they are larger. dooley
cordeledawg: thanks for your suggestions, i love artemsia, i have found three different types in nurseries here on the island but i notice the leaves are all dark and moldy looking at the bottom of the stems. is this normal? is there a way to prevent it? has this been your experience with your types? dooley
girlgroupgirl: after losing eight different kinds of lavender to tropical storm tammy i kind of gave up on lavenders as our climate seemed too wet. of course now we have no rain so they would probably do fine. do you find yours are sensitive to water because the bed i am building is irrigated. thanks for your suggestions, dooley
I dunno, for sure, dooleyworth. Sounds like those tha get dark and moldy just need a good hair cut. I did find that plumping mine up around the bottom with pinestraw seems to help keep the underside from getting too moist. Like most grey foliage of this type, it does like to stay on the dry side. 'Silver Mound' will need to be divided when it starts to part in the middle.
coardeledawg: thanks for that information, i have some very fine pine mulch i was going to put on the bed when i finished planting what i have tomorrow, i will be sure to get some plumped up under the artemisia. dooley
girlgroupgirl: thanks, as this bed (which was constructed with imported top soil origin ally) is under a huge old live oak so it is probably pretty acidic, do you think i should add some lime to the soil? dooley
yesterday i found a small angel leaf begonnia with grey leaves and a greyish potato vine so they are going in the mix.
Angel leaf begonia and potatoe vine sounds pretty! Show some pictures when you get done!
Oak trees are pretty dry underneath, so you might get a really nice balance in there for some good greys. The X-intermedia lavender are more tollerant of some moisture, and especially humidity.
You can lime, but you could also just put a tiny chunk of concrete (if you have any bits and pieces) under the plantings as you go, which would need lime. I do this. Works great. The lime leaches out of the concrete bits and you never every have to lime again!
GGG
Dooley, I wish you lived closer. I have lamb's ears and Artemesia "Silver King" that are multiplying like crazy!!
Susan
raggedyann: thanks for the thought. i am so excited about this idea that i am thinking about doing another smaller but separate moonlight garden if i can get the right plants to grow here. dooley
Hi Dooley - how about rose campion? Mine grows in part shade and multiplies politely.
Elizabeth
There is a creeping type gray Santolina that is very easy to grow...............never have to feed or water it As you can see, this one is crawling over pea gravel
thank you all for the suggestions, i now have a list waiting for fall and some weather cool enough to plant, our heat index has been over 100 for days with little break on the horizon.
i have planned the moon garden and have its first occupants, three plastic basketball- sized silver beach balls i got on sale at the supermarket for $1.49 each. they look great and promise better (more real) things to come in the fall. dooley
I have a sage as well as some artemsia, & Lychnis coronarium, and I may have a sedum that has greyish leaves as well...here is a picture showing the sage and the artemesia, I will be happy to send you some when things cool down a bit....just let me know...
Janet
oops, wrong picture...lol
Lychnis coronarium
Also have cat mint that is greyish and I love the way it reseeds and blooms all Spring/Summer/Fall! It is not a high grower, but spreads about two feet...wonderful smell and blue flower!
I have Santolina as well...lol, but no picture of it...it is in a pot...I have saying I would plant it in the garden for three years now..lol
janet s: thank you so much for your offer, i will take you up on it when it cools off, although at the moment that seems like a dream, its 100 here today that's without the heat index. i am glad to learn that many silver plants (at least those in Australia) do well in hot weather with little water. your greys look great. dooley
It is the same here, 97 with a much higher heat index! So, when it cools off we can work this out..lol