green to golden leaves and once
again, contrast is the name of the
game. Try adding the golden confetti bush or ‘breath of heaven’ to a
sunny planting. It’s a bit smaller
than the other confetti bushes, but
that makes it great for adding to a
grouping of plants as a foreground
shrub. Gnidia oppositifolia is a
shrub that needs to be admired
both with the eye and the fingertips. The soft and silky lime-green
foliage is topped off with golden
new growth.
A touch of fragrance
Aromatic foliage usually has to be
brushed against or touched for you
to get a whiff of the scent. Will it
release these smells into your garden? Plant aromatic plants like buchus and scented geraniums in
spots where passers-by will tend to
brush against the leaves – however,
you might be surprised at how fragrant these plants are without any
interference, particularly after rainstorms or a heavy fall of dew. The
plant world offers us fragrances
that range from rose to lemon and
even aniseed or garlic. Plant your
aromatic plants where you can easily break off a little piece for the
scent. I often slip a piece of lemon
scented buchu (Agathosma ciliaris)
or one of the many scented geraniums into my pocket for the sheer
pleasure of their fragrance.
Low maintenance gardening
Even if you’re not a particularly lazy
gardener, you’ll have areas of your
garden that you don’t have much
time for. Turn them into a rich palette of greens and choose perennial
plants that flower at different times
of the year so that your garden
changes with the seasons. It’s
tempting to go crazy at the garden
centre and to take what you like the
look of on an impulse rather than
planning carefully, but even beginner gardeners can create a garden
Erica, Arctotis and Leucadendron
that’s interesting all year round. Simply
visit your garden centre or nursery at various times of the year – and don’t forget
that leaves can be more important than
flowers.