Plants for Special Situations — The Gold Standard

Plants that Lighten Landscape Projects

by Nina A. Koziol

About 20 years ago, a majordomo in the horticulture world told a packed crowd of green industry pros that chartreuse and gold foliage was, well, awful. He said it was especially bad when it was combined with burgundy foliage (as in burgundy-leaved barberry paired with acid-yellow barberry — his example). Granted, these plants are considered problematic today, but his point? That particular color combo, in his opinion and in no uncertain terms was in bad taste. Period.

Well, that’s changed big time. Gold and chartreuse are two colors that really pop in the midwestern landscape, whether it’s perennials, shrubs or trees. Add conifers and you’ve got multi-season inter- est, especially on drab winter days. Take Saybrook Gold juniper (Juniper chinensis ‘Saybrook Gold’) in plant breeder Hans Hansen’s garden in Zeeland, Michigan. It grows alongside the deciduous Gold Rush dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides ‘Ogon’) and the juniper makes a stunning specimen any time of year.

Meagan Provencher, senior landscape designer at Wasco Nursery and Garden Center, loves Ogon dawn redwood, too. “I had one at my old house that was maturing nicely and I missed it when I moved, but my new one was just planted two years ago and has grown quite well. The color is a phenomenal focal point in the garden. It could be a stand-alone tree or in a garden

“Yucca is a great plant to give a southwestern look to a garden even though it’s actually native to Florida and Mississippi,” says Homer Trecartin, Jr., manager of sales and production planning at Twixwood Nursery in Berrien Springs, Michigan. “It is very drought tolerant once established so it works well in a xeric landscape or gravel garden and it’s hardy to zone 5. But Color Guard is even more versatile with its golden needle-like foliage. And it is evergreen, or evergold.”

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