GROWING TRENDS

Many landscape designers are using this palette in their projects, enabling them to blend both texture and tone in intricate and unique ways. The use of silver-toned foliage is becoming increasingly popular as this soft shade among tonal greens can produce both subtle changes in foliage colour, as well as provide deep contrasts, depending on the plants used.

Botanix Plant Supply produces a number of native trees and shrubs that fit within these palettes. Here are a few favourites:

EUCALYPTUS CINEREA 'SILVER SHADOW'

Silver Shadow is a grafted selection of Eucalyptus cinerea that has an elegant upright habit and produces beautiful silver-blue foliage throughout the year.

The tree has a compact and uniform habit (mature size 6x8m) and retains the silver foliage colour into maturity.

'Silver Shadow’ is suitable for residential landscapes where a low maintenance native tree is desired.

Botanix produces 'Silver Shadow' in both 35L air pruned containers and the advanced 70L range.

EUCALYPTUS LATENS 'MOON LAGOON'

‘Moon Lagoon’ or ‘Fine Leaved Mallee’, is a small evergreen native shrub growing 1.5-2m. The juvenile foliage consists of narrow blue-green leaves that are very refined. The plant is trimmed back to promote this growth.

This textural blue foliage makes a striking addition among the brown tones of native grasses.

It is drought tolerant and grows best in full sun and well-drained soils.

Botanix currently produces ‘Moon Lagoon’ in 30cm containers.

EREMOPHILA NIVEA 'BLUE VELVET'

‘Blue Velvet’ is an improved form of Eremophila Nivea, chosen for its intense foliage colour and vivid flowers. It is grafted onto specialty rootstock also ensuring suitability to a wider range of soil types.  Growing to around 1.5x1.5m ‘Blue Velvet’ is a tough and low maintenance shrub. It will perform best with light trimming after flowering, which will ensure the shrub stays dense and promotes subsequent season’s flowering.

While the foliage of ‘Blue Velvet’ is rewarding in its own right, the deep mauve flowers provide brilliant contrast through spring.

'Blue Velvet’ was featured in many award-winning gardens at the 2019 Melbourne International Flower & Show. Read about it here.

Botanix produces 'Blue Velvet' in a 30cm pot size.

ACACIA PENDULA

Acacia pendular also known as ‘Weeping Myall’ is a medium growing evergreen tree with a pendulous form. It has soft grey-green coloured and softly weeping foliage.

It is native to a range of dry inland areas along the Australian east coast. As such, Acacia pendula is adapted with a wide variety of environmental tolerances, although it prefers well-drained and sandy soils and full sun, and will grow with minimal watering.

Botanix produces Acacia pendula in 35L air pruned pots.

For more information on the range of plants from Botanix Plant Supply, contact the nursery or view the full range on the website.