Great Green Colors Galore for Your Garden

Pantone declared that this is the year of green with their color of the year being PANTONE 17-5641 Emerald. This has led to a host of articles about incorporating it into your life in some surprising ways. Especially in pants, for some reason everyone is trying to make green pants happen. And shoes. I don’t get it, but that’s me.  

More to the point, lets get into green for your garden. It’s the foundation that you build your garden house on. Just about everything that goes into your garden is green or green based.

While researching this article, I started out looking for green flowering plants, but I just wan’t really feeling anything I was finding. I mean you have your Bells of Irelands and zinnias, but it’s a limited range of plants. So instead I just went with all green plants, I mean there are thousands of those.  Here’s a bunch of them for your consideration. You can vote for one or many. It’s like having an autodialer when Idol starts back up.

Podocarpus macrophlla

Podocarpus macrophylla
Zone: 7-11
Light: Partial to full sun
Plant Type: Shrub
Size: Slow grower to 15′ tall and 6-8′ wide
Uses: Great in a corner. Line them up to form a hedge, it’s dense form makes a great windbreak.
Fun fact: Deer resistant.

 

trachycarpus fortunei

Trachycarpus fortunei
Zone: 8-11
Light: Full sun
Plant Type: Tree, palm
Size: Can get up to 25′ tall and up to 10′ wide at the crown.
Uses: Use near a pool for a nice tropical look. You want a palm but have a small garden space? This is your guy. Great container palm as well.
Fun fact: Once on Spring Break, I passed out next to one of these and my face was all sorts of jacked up from the bark because I slid down it.  Of course I lied and said I was in a bar fight at Floribama and I won.

 

Buxus Microphylla Japonica

Buxus microphylla japonica var. ‘Green Beauty’
Zone: 5-9
Light: Partial to full sun
Plant Type: Shrub
Size: Slowly gets to 5′ tall and about as wide.
Uses: You’ve seen this shrub everywhere. Where ever anyone wants something formal, these go in.
Fun fact: There really aren’t any for this one outside of the fact that people either love or hate them.

 

Agave bracteosa

Agave bracteosa
Zone: 8-11
Light: Full sun
Plant Type: Succulent
Size: Slow grower up to 2′ tall and about 3′ wide.
Uses: Container.  Small accent plant.  Looks great in xeriscape gardens or rock gardens.
Fun fact: One of my old professors would get all sorts of misty eyed telling us about how he used to see them growing on cliffs in Mexico.

 

Agave attenuata

Agave attenuata
Zone: 9-11
Light: Partial to full sun
Plant Type: Succulent
Size: Clumps can get up to 5′ tall and 8′ wide.
Uses: Container. Accent plant. Looks great in xeriscape gardens or rock gardens. Can also give a nice tropical feel to any yard space.
Fun fact: I see these and immediately think of San Diego where they seem to grow wild with no irrigation. Their soft ‘leaves’ make them perfect for when you want something architectural, but don’t want to be stabbed when you fall over after having one too many glasses of boxed wine.

 

Carissa macrocarpa

Carissa macrocarpa
Zone: 10-11
Light: Partial to full sun
Plant Type: Shrub
Size: Can get up to 2.5′ tall and 3′ wide.
Uses: Container.  Accent plant.  Looks great in xeriscape gardens or rock gardens. Can also give a nice tropical feel to any yard space. pairs nicely with succulents.
Fun fact: South African native.  The deep green round silver dollar sized leaves look outstanding and shiny. Mine lives in a pot and I’m hoping it comes back after this last freeze.

Cupressus sempervirensCupressus sempervirens
Zones: 4-24
Plant Type: Large Shrub, weird tree
Light: Full sun
Size: 4-6′ wide and up to 36′ tall. Fast Grower
Uses: Windbreak. Adds a Mediterranean feel to a garden. Dwarf Versions look interesting in containers.
Fun fact: One of my professors used to see these and scream, “Explanation points on the landscape!” You can gather exactly what he thought of them. But in all honesty they do make excellent windbreak plants which is why you see them in agricultural fields.

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Nephrolepis exaltata cordifolia
Zone: 8-11
Light: Full shade
Plant Type: Fern
Size: 3-4′ and can get really really wild.
Uses: Container.  Small accent plant.  Dark meadows and forests. How about edging some paths through your darker sections of garden with these?
Fun fact: I had these growing in hanging pots on my porch back home in NOLA and they would always burn. Why? Turns out the heat that gets trapped by the roof was cooking them. I lowered them 2′ and voila! no more burn.

 

Laurus nobilis Laurus nobilis
Zone: 5-9, 12-24
Light: Full sun
Plant Type: Fern
Size: 12-15′ tall and wide as a shrub, and 30′ and bigger as a tree.
Uses: Container. Small accent tree. Mediterranean garden. Deer proof plant
Fun fact:You can cook with this. This is that bay laurel.

 

Aloe polyphylla

Aloe polyphylla
Zone: 7-9
Light: Full sun
Plant Type: Succulent
Size: Up to 1′ tall and 2’wide and it’s clumping.
Uses: Container. Small accent plant. Works well in rock gardens and xeriscape yards
Fun fact: S. African native.

Ilex crenata 'Sky Pencil'

Ilex crenata var. ‘Sky Pencil’
Zone: 5-9
Light: Full sun
Plant Type: Fern
Size: 6-8′ tall and up to 3′ wide
Uses: Container. Small accent tree. Adds a nice architectural touch to your formal landscape. Remember that column planter? This and that would look awesome together.
Fun fact: Works well with roses and peonies.

 

Tsuga canadensis 'Pendula'

Tsuga canadensis var. ‘Pendula’
Zone: 4-8
Light: Partial to full sun
Plant Type: large shrub
Size: 5′ tall and up to 8′ wide
Uses: Japanese garden. Adds a lovely texture to a space.  Imagine this planted with pittosporum or azaleas? Or or or! say something bold and red? Hmmm?
Fun fact: Its a conifer. Google it.

 

Pinus mugo var. 'Mops'

Pinus mugo var. ‘Mops’
Zone: 2-7
Light: Partial to full sun
Plant Type: large shrub
Size: 5′ tall and as wide
Uses: Japanese garden. Adds a lovely texture to a space. Its dense and symmetrical growth will give you amazing green puffballs of fun year round
Fun fact: It is evergreen.

 

Olea europea

Olea europaea
Zone: 8-11
Light: Full sun
Plant Type: Medium tree
Size: 25′ tall and as wide
Uses: Mediterranean garden. Olives!  Architectural look to its bark. Planters. It’s a versatile tree.
Fun fact: I have two and because Tucson has some very odd rules about trees they are non blooming. Yeah, they outlawed a tree because people were allergic to the pollen. They’d be screwed trying that in New Orleans with the oak trees there.

 

Ginkgo biloba 'Jade Butterfly'

Gingko biloba var. ‘Jade Butterfly’
Zone: 4-9
Light: Full sun
Plant Type: Small sized tree
Size: 10-15′ tall and as wide
Uses: Fire wise garden plant. It’s dense and delicate green leaves add some awesome texture to a space.  Get two, stick them at the end of your driveway.
Fun fact: They are dioecious. Again Google that to find out what it means and which one you should buy.

 

Pittosporum tobira

Pittosporum tobira
Zone: 8-11
Light: Full sun
Plant Type: Shrub
Size: 4-5′ tall and as wide
Uses: Plant it as a single specimen or in groups, using say, one of the regular ones and maybe a few of the dwarf varieties.
Fun fact: Orange scented blossoms and can handle reflected heat.

 

Hosta 'Demetriou's Gold'

Hosta spp.
Zone: 3-8
Light: Full shade
Plant Type: Bulb
Size: Varies by specie
Uses: Plant it as a single specimen or in groups. Mass planting your deep shade areas with this will bring lots of green to the areas that don’t typically get it.
Fun fact: Hundred and hundreds of species of this plant available for use. This one will appeal to a very specific Captain of Snark here.

 

Prunus laurocerasusPrunus laurocerarsus
Zone: 6-9
Light: Partial to full sun
Plant Type: Large shrub or small tree
Size: 12′ tall and up to 8′ wide
Uses: Evergreen shrub which makes for an excellent hedgerow.
Fun fact: The fruit attracts birds.

 

Alchemilla mollis 'Auslese'

Alchemilla mollis var. ‘Auslee’
Zone: 3-8
Light: Partial to full shade
Plant Type: Pernnial or groundcover
Size: 12″ tall and up to 18″ wide
Uses: Mass plant.  Container. Delicate. Pretty. Chartruese flowers.
Fun fact: Looks awesome in a water garden.

So, what’d I miss? It’s green. There so much of it.  Let me know in the comments which all green all the time plants that you all cannot live without in your outdoor space.

All of these and more can be ordered as seed, bulbs, or bare root stock by using the Amazon Crasstalk link. If you don’t want to use these maybe go to your local independent garden center? For the most part they will love to help and will have suggestions that you never would have thought of. Here’s a link to a list from 2011 of the top 100 in the US.

Coming up: Grasses. Indoor plants. How to properly plant a container garden. What you need to know about citrus trees. And the color spectrum will continue with yellow.  Get into it, Spring is coming.

Photo Credits: Podocarpus macrophylla.  Trachycarpus fortunei.  Buxus microphylla japonica.  Agave bracteosa.  Agave attenuata.  Carissa macrocarpa.  Cupressus sempervirens.  Nephrolepsis exaltata cordifolia.  Laurus nobilis.  Aloe polyphylla.  Ilex crenata var. ‘Sky Pencil’.  Tsuga canadensis var. ‘Pendula’.  Pinus mugo var. ‘Mops’.  Olea europea.  Ginko biloba var. ‘Jade Butterfly’. Pittosporum tobira.  Hosta spp. var ‘Demetriou’s Gold’.  Prunus laurocerasus.  Alchemilla mollis var. ‘Auslee’.  Top Image.

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