Taste the rainbow

Can you believe this bright yellow was bright green just 2 weeks ago and it will be bright red in about 4 months? Euonymus fortunii is a seriously colorful shrub if you're needing year round interest. It can handle heat and cold as well.

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What is this Dr. Suess Looking Plant?

What is this? Can anyone identify this funky succulent? I found it at a client's house on their hillside next to a rose garden. (I know, they obviously don't go together).



Anyway, it's the only one I've seen. Let us here your knowledge!

Simple and impacting

Who needs an expensive sculpture when you have a $100 pot and a $75 Chrondipetalum? (I'd better check my spelling on that plant).

Living focal pieces can be as memorable as water features if you pick a plant with foliage that moves with the wind. Keep in mind you background and work to compliment or contrast in color.

Textures

Sometimes all you need is one type of grass that you like as with this Italian Timothy. Then you mow a path through and your blade contrast is created by the mown to unmown transition. Very simple planting design can be best.

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The Silhouette

This may be jumping a bit ahead to go right into lighting design, but I want to share one of my favorite lighting techniques. I call it the 'Silhouette'.

The idea is to have a soft glow behind your plants so that the outline of the plants is defined by their shade side. It reminds me of the old comedies where they would have people with a light on in a tent or behind a curtain and their silhouette makes them look like they're being naughty... then they show the characters and they really aren't even close to each other, it was just an optical illusion. Did I lose everyone on that one?



Anyway, this technique works best with these ingredients:

- Character or sculptural planting such as bamboo


- A backdrop to catch the light behind the plant subject such as a plaster wall or smooth fence

- Wide angle, filtered, low voltage, lighting. You want the light close enough to the backdrop to illuminate and create a silhouette, but not so close that you create 'hot spots.'


I really do not like to see the source of lighting, so in-grade up-lights with a 'hood' to hide the lens from the onlooker works best. In these applications where the source is being hidden, do not waste your money on expensive brass or bronze fixtures. You want it to be hidden anyway. The black, high-density plastic ones are fine. Check your warranty and enjoy!

Helleborus x hybridus 'Walhelivor'

The Lenten Roses you will love if you ever have the chance to discover them. They have very understated beauty and have an amazing, subtle flower.

The Helleborus x hybridus 'Walhelivor' or Ivory Prince Lenten Rose is one of my favorites. There are few truly green flowers in nature. This one will make you fall in love with planting for contrast. Not to mention, it does well in shade and thrives with little attention. This is a great flowering perennial to pair with Pittosporum eugenioides 'Platinum'.

Plant type: Perennials
Cold Hardiness Zone: 4-9
Heat Tolerance: >60 to 90 days
Mature size: Forms basal clumps to 12 in. tall, spreads wider.
Growth Habit: Clumping
Flower Color: Green
Blooms: Blooms early spring.

Pittosporum eugenioides 'Platinum'

One of my favorite shrubs right now is Pittosporum eugenioides 'Platinum', or common name, Platinum Lemonwood. In planting design, you have to remember, color choices and combinations are not just about flower color, but more importantly, foliage colors.

The 'Platinum' color in the leaf of this Pitt really comes to life in contrast with darker leafed shrubs or like green/lemon colors. Put this shrub next to soft white blooms and full leafs of the Hydrangea quercifolia 'Vaughn's Lillie' or the inconspicuous bloom of the Helleborus x hybridus 'Walhelivor' and you will know what I mean.

Plant type: Evergreen Shrubs
Cold Hardiness Zone: 8-10
Heat Tolerance: >150 to 180 days
Mature size: Large, bushy shrub 8 to 10 ft. tall and wide.
Blooms: Small, greenish-yellow flowers in spring.

Light needs: Full Sun

Key Feature: Dramatic Foliage Color