Silver-foliaged plants

Silver-foliaged plants are drought and heat tolerant and bring a cool elegance to the garden.

Coloured leaves are an important part of any garden and can provide months of, or even year-round, interest. Silver or grey leaves will nicely offset bright or hot colours and tone in well with pastel flowers. Use them to contrast with greens, burgundies or golds, or consider planting an entire silver border. The silver colouring is due to tiny hairs on the leaves called trichomes which reflect heat and light, glistening in the sun but losing their lustre when wet. Most silver-foliaged plants are heat and drought hardy, and often cope well with coastal conditions. They include groundcovers, shrubs and trees with variously textured foliage.

Silver-leafed plants to consider

Coast myall (Acacia binervia)
A fast-growing, small-to-medium tree or shrub with silvery, sickle-shaped phyllodes (the modified leaf stems that most wattles have instead of leaves) and lightly fragrant, golden-yellow cylindrical inflorescences. It tolerates drought, light frost and coastal conditions, and makes a useful screening plant. Bees, butterflies and seed-eating birds love this plant!

Silver spurflower (Coleus argentatus syn. Plectranthus argentatus)
This ground-covering shrub is one of the few silver plants that grows well in sun or shade, making it indispensable. It has pleated foliage and spikes of tiny white to pale blue flowers. Native to northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, it is slightly frost tender and in cold areas is best grown under a canopy of large trees or shrubs. This plant strikes easily from cuttings, which could be overwintered indoors in cold climates.

White sage (Salvia apiana)

This evergreen shrub is native to south-western United States and Mexico. Also called bee sage and sacred sage, it features aromatic silver-white leaves on tall stems topped with white to pale pink flowers. The plant’s bold, upright form is hard to beat and grows extremely quickly in well-drained soils. The brittle stems are vulnerable to wind and physical knocks. The leaves are used to make smudge sticks that, when lit, scent the air and are thought to purify it.