Yellow-Leaved Plants

Who doesn’t love a big flowering show, but sometimes I think that yellow foliage plants can have a mighty impact. One of my favorite foliage plants is the easy to grow Alternanthera, especially the yellow selections. Yellow is a selection with chartreuse yellow leaves that brightens a garden from spring to fall. Pair with dark leaved plants for a great contrast in color. Another yellow plant I can’t get enough of is Lysimachia. ‘Aurea’ has coin-shaped gold trailing foliage. Only growing about four inches tall and 15 inches wide, these plants make a great ground cover, and container spiller plant. Not many gardeners are familiar with Helichrysum, Lemon Licorice vine. Typically available as a grayish blue selection, ‘Lemon Licorice’ produces masses of velvety soft chartreuse leaves about the size of a penny. This is not a plant for in-ground planting, but it thrives in baskets and mixed container plantings. I can’t talk about yellow leaved plants without including ornamental sweet potato vine. I’ve been growing ornamental sweet potato vine for about 20 years and my favorites are the chartreuse yellow selections. This selection called ‘Lime’ has heart-shaped intense yellow lime green foliage. The trailing heat tolerant foliage is perfect for any planting location in the garden and landscape. You can’t go wrong growing these yellow leaved beauties to brighten your garden or landscape.  I’m horticulturist Gary Bachman and I’ll see you next time on Southern Gardening.