Gardens of Silver

But in the garden beds it's a different story. Colored foliage there has a lot of different functions. It can be a mediator between pants whose colors would otherwise be at war. It can add color to a garden even when nothing is in bloom. And it can help to create a specific atmosphere that green alone can't quite pull off. Take silver-leafed plants. They create a misty look in a garden that speaks of fairy tales and romance.

I've loved plants with silver foliage since I first began to garden. To be strictly accurate I should say that I love the foliage - the plants can be royal nuisances. Most types of silver artemisia, for instance, are thugs! Not content to grow where they are planted, they move in and try to take over as soon as you turn your back. I planted 'Silver King' one year and loved it. I turned my back on it for an entire winter - and when I came back it had pretty well sprouted in every inch of the garden that wasn't already occupied. And I have created a ribbon of silver bordering almost all of my gardens, thanks to a 2" pot of Stachys byzantina that I planted about 10 years ago. Nowadays I pull it with no more qualms than I suffer when pulling chickweed.

To be fair, there are Artemisia and Stachys that are at least somewhat respectful of boundaries. Artemisia schmidtiana 'Silver Mound' grows into a rounded shape so perfect one might think that it had been sculpted - and pretty well stays in bounds until the heat of summer when it falls apart and flops all over. You can rejuvenate it by cutting it back (thus leaving a hole in the garden for a while) or you can put a circular plant support around it in spring that will prevent it from sprawling.