YEAR ROUND colour NOVEMBER
Striking black phormiums and physocarpus add drama to the dark-tinted panicum foliage and fluffy miscanthus seed heads
Flowers might first lure us into gardening, but inevitably it’s the foliage that makes us stay. One minute you’re entranced by your first pelargonium, the next you’re taking notes in RHS Wisley’s Box Alternatives garden; it’s a rite of horticultural passage. This simple grouping at RHS Rosemoor shows what can be achieved without a petal in sight. There’s the lightness and movement of three different grasses, the phormium’s solid black sword leaves, and the physocarpus and catalpa remind us how good a mixed border can be if we widen our ingredient list further.
3 easy steps
PANICUM VIRGATUM ‘SHENANDOAH’
Upright red-tipped foliage on a deciduous grass with hazy flower panicles from summer into autumn. H&S: 90cm.
PHORMIUM ‘PLATT’S BLACK’
Purple-black sword-like leaves on a bold evergreen perennial. Striking red flower spikes may appear in summer, followed by seed heads. H&S: 1.2m
MISCANTHUS SINENSIS ‘KLEINE SILBERSPINNE’
Narrow upright foliage and reddish-silver feathery plums that fade to buff. Deciduous but stands well into winter. H: 1.5m, S60cm.
PHYSOCARPUS OPULIFOLIUS ‘DIABOLO’
Dark purple, maple-like leaves and clusters of white flowers flushed a delicate pink in early summer. Deciduous shrub. H&S: 2.5m.
CATALPA BIGNONIOIDES ‘AUREA’
Large, yellow, heart-shaped leaves and white tubular flowers on mature trees. Excellent pollarded for foliage effect. H: 10m, S: 8m.
ARUNDO DONAX VERSICOLOR
Spectacular tall reed grass with variegated white and green foliage. Half-hardy, it needs protection in winter. H: 2.1m, S: 1.2m.
This is a chunky planting that you’ll want to get right from the start, with plants requiring serious upper body strength to dig out and move once they’re established. If your chosen area has problems with perennial weeds, no amount of time spent eradicating them will be wasted, even if it means pushing planting back by a year. As you work, add plenty of well-rotted organic matter to encourage a fertile, moist but well-drained soil and mulch the border annually once established.
1 Establish the shrubs
Autumn is the perfect time to establish the key structural shrubs. Dig a hole that’s as deep as their container and twice as wide, improving the soil with further compost as you work. Soak the rootball in a bucket of water for half an hour before planting and make sure its top is level with the soil surface.
