When planning a garden, it's a great idea to start with the larger trees and shrubs, to ensure you'll have year-round interest, balance the size of your home, and bring attention to key areas of the garden. But once you've chosen some all-stars for the trees and shrubs, you can begin adding dashes of color and really have fun experimenting by introducing groups of smaller accent plants.
Here are some of my favorite accent plants to help highlight the beauty of your larger trees and shrubs:
-Hakonechloa macra 'All Gold' is a flowing golden grass which adds a bold shot of color to a shady garden area. The cascading foliage rustles gently in the breeze and has an airy, billowing effect in the garden. Hakonechloa or Japanese Forest Grass is just over 1' tall, and spreads politely to about 3' around.
-'Aureola', another Japanese Forest Grass, just won the 2009 Perennial Plant of the Year Award, so that will tell you what a superstar it is! I love to plant these en masse under trees or between shrubs, and they look fantastic with rich blues or purples nearby.
Speaking of rich blues and purples, there's a wonderful dwarf Hydrangea that gets only 2-3' tall, called 'Pia'. If you have a place where you've been wanting those gorgeous blue mophead flowers, but didn't think you could squeeze a Hydrangea in, then give 'Pia' a try. With the acid soil you provide your Rhododendrons and other evergreens, she'll turn a series of blues and purples with a bit of reddish-pink thrown in, while with alkaline soil she's a lovely pinky-red. All mophead Hydrangeas make long-lasting cut flowers.
-Calluna vulgaris or Scotch Heathers are the heavy-hitters of the year-round garden. Blooming in late summer when so many perennials have petered out, they also provide a striking evergreen show of foliage interest. You may have seen the fiery winter reds of 'Firefly' or the golden tones of 'Pat's Gold', but did you know there are also silver Scotch Heathers?
-'Velvet Fascination' is a silvery-grey looker with bright white flowers August to September. The silver foliage highlights so well against deep green, bronze, or purple-toned foliage. 'Silver Cloud' is another stunner, with amethyst-colored flowers. I like to plant Scotch Heathers in groups - nestle in two next to each other, and then continue the theme with a third one further along the garden bed.
-Iris Louisiana is another beauty that can be tucked in between larger plants. The fresh green spikes of 4' tall foliage look great with colored conifers and deeper green Rhododendrons. And the flowers! You won't believe the vibrant, dark blue-purple blossoms from May-June. Place them near a yellow or orange-blooming Rhododendron like 'Golden Gate' for a spectacular show.
-Dwarf conifers like Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Golden Fern' also make great companions to larger plants. 'Golden Fern' False Cypress is a 2' tall evergreen with foliage that really looks like the fronds of a fern! It's even better than a fern, though, because it is evergreen and has a lovely golden color that makes it really pop. In sun it is a bright gold, and in part shade it takes on shades of chartreuse and blue.
-Pinus densiflora 'Low Glow' is another great dwarf conifer. It has such tightly mounded foliage that it hardly even looks like a pine! The green color is bright and fresh, and it makes a wonderful balance to plants with darker foliage or variegation. It prefers full sun and will get to only 2' tall in ten years.
I hope these plants inspire you as they do me! Experimenting with smaller accent plants is a great way to try wild new combinations and bring year-round color and cheer to your garden beds.
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