#glaucousfoliage

Plant of the Day

Saturday 10 December 2022

Against a sunny, south wall at the Cruickshank Botanic Gardens, Aberdeen, Scotland, the sprawling sub-shrub Melianthus major (honey flower, peanut bush) makes an exotic feature. This plant has large glaucous, pinnate leaves that when bruised smell of marmite or peanut butter. It comes from South Africa so is not reliably hardy in colder areas and can be mulched in winter with light materials to protect the underground shoots for the next season.

Plant of the Day

Tuesday 1 September 2020

The silver foliage of Artemisia ludoviciana (western mugwort) makes a great contrast with the glaucous leaves tinged with purplish-pink and the starry rose-pink flowers of Hylotelephium 'Vera Jameson' (stonecrop). Both these herbaceous perennials need a fertile, well-drained soil in full sun, and here these conditions are being provided by this raised bed.